Although China and India produce the most household food waste every year, the average volume produced per capita in these countries is less than 70 kilograms.
Top 5 ways to cut down on food waste
- Don't over buy. Keep track of what you've bought and used.
- Check the use-by dates of fresh food when you buy it. These are the dates to take notice of, rather than the best-before dates.
- Plan ahead.
- Get to know your grocer.
- Love your freezer.
Supermarkets are responsible for 10% of all U.S. food waste – that's 43 billion pounds annually. According to the Guardian, the food supply chain wastes 45% of all produce, 35% of seafood, 30% of cereals, and 20% of meat and dairy products every year.
When food waste ends up in landfill, it decomposes anaerobically and releases methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Food waste also exhausts our natural resources like the water, gasoline, energy, labor, land, and fertilizers used to produce it.
While good progress, there is much more to do across the whole food chain, WRAP warns. A reduction of 4 percent in the supply chain also shows good overall progress from businesses, but WRAP says many more businesses need to step up their action on food waste to help halve global food waste by 2030.
In addition to donating food to food banks and other charities, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have donated funds to purchase equipment to increase the capacity of the charitable meal system to transport and deliver fresh food. In 2019, we donated more than 585 million pounds of food in the U.S. alone.
Many shoppers are unaware that supermarkets are also allowed to sell food past the sell-by dates, but most don't, as it would give them a bad reputation with shoppers, and impact their sales.
Every year, 40% of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten, leading to 160 billion pounds of wasted food in our landfills.
About 150,000 tons of food is tossed out in US households each day, equivalent to about a third of the daily calories that each American consumes. Fruit and vegetables were the most likely to be thrown out, followed by dairy and then meat.
Each year, 108 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States. That equates to more than $161 billion worth of food thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted.
Fearing consumers will either not buy the food or think the stores are carrying old products, most grocery stores pull the items out of stock several days before the sell-by date.
5 ways food waste is destroying our beautiful planet
- It wastes water. Water is essential to life, and it's no surprise it's essential to food production as well.
- It releases Methane. When food is thrown out, it eventually makes its way to landfills (which can themselves be a problem for the environment).
- It wastes oil.
- It wastes land.
- It harms biodiversity.
What causes food loss and waste? Food loss occurs for many reasons, with some types of loss—such as spoilage—occurring at every stage of the production and supply chain. At the retail level, equipment malfunction (such as faulty cold storage), over-ordering, and culling of blemished produce can result in food loss.
Sources of waste can be broadly classified into four types: Industrial, Commercial, Domestic, and Agricultural.
- Industrial Waste. These are the wastes created in factories and industries.
- Commercial Waste. Commercial wastes are produced in schools, colleges, shops, and offices.
- Domestic Waste.
- Agricultural Waste.
Saves money from buying less food. Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint. Conserves energy and resources, preventing pollution involved in the growing, manufacturing, transporting, and selling food (not to mention hauling the food waste and then landfilling it).
Top five most wasted foods (and ways to save them from the bin)
- #1 Bread. Over 240 million slices of bread are chucked away every year.
- #2 Milk. Around 5.9 million glasses of milk are poured down the sink every year, but it's so easy to use it up.
- #3 Potatoes. We discard 5.8 million potatoes each year.
- #4 Cheese.
- #5 Apples.
Wholesome food that is currently wasted could help feed families in need. Safe and wholesome food that is currently thrown away could help feed hungry people and reduce food insecurity today. Each year, Feeding America and its network of food banks rescues around 3.6 billion pounds of food.
Food waste or food loss is food that is not eaten. Moreover reducing food waste in all parts of the food system is an important part of reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, by reducing the total amount of water, land and other resources needed to feed the global community.
