Food Waste - Facts about Food Waste

  • Did you know?
    1. Americans throw out the equivalent of $218 billion worth of food each year1
    2. Reducing wasted food by 15% could feed 25 million Americans2
      • This would provide much needed nutrition to the one in six Americans who lack a secure supply of food.
    3. Large volumes of uneaten food are disposed in landfills, contributing to 16% of U.S. methane emissions.
    4. On average, a person generates 3.5 pounds of food waste per week...
    5. ...of which 68% is potentially edible (NRDC)
    6. Although New Jersey is one of the wealthiest states in the country, nearly 11% of the population is food insecure, of which 15% are children.3

    Nationally, the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and other sources4 estimate 40 percent of food produced in the U.S. is not eaten, which equates to 20 pounds of food per person monthly.

    From farm to table (estimates vary):

    • Over 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget;
    • Over 50 percent of U.S. land and
    • Up to 80 percent of freshwater consumed is used for food production

    Americans are:

    • Wasting more than 25 percent of clean water used;
    • Expending large amounts of chemicals, energy, and land to produce food that is never eaten

1 ReFED A ROADMAP TO REDUCE U.S. FOOD WASTE BY 20 PERCENT
2 NRDC, Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill
3 Feed America, p.32 Map The Meal Gap 2017
4 EPA, NRDC, ReFED