On a national level, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal in 2015 to reduce food waste by half by 2030. The city and state efforts are trickling into US school systems too - both Maine and Rhode Island have introduced legislation to reduce the amount of food waste in schools. In 2019, the New York City Department of Sanitation expanded upon their organics separation rules, proposing that even more food-related businesses would be required to separate organic waste in an effort to keep nearly 100,000 tons of wasted food out of landfills each year. In addition, several states like Tennessee and Washington, and cities like Los Angeles and Madison, Wisconsin, have created food waste task forces to reduce waste, creating composting education and infrastructure and eliminating food waste from US landfills. There is pending legislation in California, Colorado and Massachusetts that would establish programs to fund private-sector composting and organic collection programs. According to the Vermont Foodbank, as a result of the new law, food donations statewide have increased 40 percent. Vermont’s “Universal Recycling Law” went into effect in July 2020, banning food scrap waste entirely. Legislators in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont have passed laws that restrict the amount of food waste going to landfills. The good news is that several states across the country are taking action to curb food waste and gain food recovery. Americans discard more food than any other country, nearly 40 million tons - or 30-40 percent of the entire US food supply. Composting isn’t part of our food-prep routine, so we continue to add fuel to the fire in increasing the sheer size of US landfills. We underutilize leftovers and toss food scraps that can still be consumed or composted. Our take-out society doesn’t use food in its entirety the way our ancestors used to. Americans are often impulsive in their food purchases, unrealistically assessing how much food is required, and as a result buying more food than they need or buying food they won’t actually eat. More than 80 percent of Americans discard perfectly good food because they misunderstand expiration labels.Ĭompared to the rest of the world, food in the United States is plentiful and less costly, and often this contributes to a general sentiment of not appreciating or valuing it the way other communities around the globe do. Labels like “sell by”, “use by”, “expires on”, “best before” or “best by” are confusing to people - and in an effort to not risk the potential of a foodborne illness, they’ll toss it in the garbage. More than 80 percent of Americans discard perfectly good, consumable food simply because they misunderstand expiration labels. Food spoilage, whether real or perceived, is one of the biggest reasons people throw out food. With so many people suffering and in need of basic amounts of food, why do Americans waste so much of their food abundance? Getting to the bottom of what causes food waste in America is a challenge that traverses the complex landscapes of socioeconomic disparities, confusion, and ingrained beliefs, layered with human behaviors and habits. It is estimated that nearly 35 million people across America - including 10 million children - suffer from food insecurity. Americans waste about 60 million tons of food every year. All told, the amount of food wasted in America has an approximate value of nearly $218 billion – the equivalent of 130 billion meals. In fact, food is the single largest component taking up space inside US landfills, making up 22 percent of municipal solid waste (MSW). That’s like every person in America throwing 975 average sized apples right into the garbage - or rather right into landfills, as most discarded food ends up there. That’s estimated to be almost 40 percent of the entire US food supply, and equates to 325 pounds of waste per person. Just how much food do Americans waste? Here’s some “food” for thought: While the world wastes about 2.5 billion tons of food every year, the United States discards more food than any other country in the world: nearly 60 million tons - 120 billion pounds - every year.
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