All of that wasted food...

...accounts for 23% of methane emissions.

In landfills, food gradually breaks down to form methane, a greenhouse gas that’s at least 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. A recent report estimates that if food were removed from UK landfills, the greenhouse gas abatement would be equivalent to removing one-fifth of all the cars in the UK from the road.

...could feed 1.1 million people per year.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that about one in nine people (or about 795 million worldwide) were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2014-2016. Reducing food loss by just 25 percent would be enough to feed more than 25 million people every year.

...could fill the Empire State Building 91 times.

All of that wasted food adds up monetarily, too. The average American family of four wastes $1300 to $2000 of food each year and the average American throws away between $28 and $43, in the form of about 20 pounds of wasted food, each month.

Food is wasted in many different ways:

Farm

Food waste occurs on farms for a variety of reasons. First, to hedge against pests and weather, farmers often plant more than consumers demand. Second, food may not be harvested because of damage by weather, pests and disease. Third, if the price of produce on the market is lower than the cost of transportation and labor, sometimes farmers will leave their crops un-harvested.

Retail

The USDA estimates that supermarkets lose $15 billion annually in unsold fruit and vegetables alone. Some of the main drivers for food loss at retail stores include: overstocked product displays, expectation of cosmetic perfection, oversized packages, the availability of prepared food until closing, expired “sell by” dates, damaged goods, outdated seasonal items, over purchasing of unpopular foods and low staffing.

Households

Approximately 40-50 percent of food waste in the US happens at the consumer level. In the US, an average family of four wastes 1,160 pounds of food annually, (about 25 percent of the food they buy). Major contributors to household food waste include food spoilage, over-preparing food, date label confusion, overbuying, and poor meal planning.

Friendship Donations Network steps in to redistribute fresh food that would otherwise be wasted.

Friendship Donations Network's dedicated volunteers pick up fresh, nutritious food that would otherwise be thrown away from grocery stores, bakeries, farms, colleges, and gardeners.

Donations of fresh, healthy food are efficiently distributed to food pantries, free meal programs, and other community organizations for free, 365 days/year. Friendship Donations Network keeps good food out of landfills and redirects it to people who need it.

Works Cited

Buzby, J. C., Wells, H. D, & Hyman, J. United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (2014). The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States (Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-121).)

Grace Communications Foundation. (2015). What is Food Waste? http://www.sustainabletable.org/5664/food-waste

Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. (2013). Food wastage footprint Impacts on natural resources.

Grunders, D. Natural Resources Defence Council. (2012). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.

Each year, in the United States, over

132

billion pounds of food is wasted. That's

31%

of all food produced in the country.