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Food Waste

3.1 Local Perspective

Preventing Wasted Food At Home

Most people don’t realize how much food they throw away every day — It’s the forgotten leftovers in the back of the fridge, the wilted lettuce we buy with good intentions, and the bruised fruit we throw away because it’s no longer “perfect.” While the scale of this problem is staggering—with an estimated one-third of all food produced for human consumption being wasted globally—the most significant portion of that waste, particularly in affluent nations, happens right in our homes. 
At its core, food waste is any food that is discarded or lost during the journey from production to consumption. It’s distinct from food loss, which often occurs at the farming, processing, or transportation stages. Food waste happens at the retail and, most significantly, the consumer level. It is a problem driven by factors like aesthetic standards (the “ugly” produce), oversized portions, and a lack of awareness about food storage and expiration dates. Think of Sarah, who buys a large bag of spinach with the goal of eating more salads. A week later, she finds the bag in the bottom of her crisper, a slimy, unusable mess. This is food waste in action. It’s a result of a disconnect between our good intentions and our practical habits.
One-third of all food in the United States goes uneaten. EPA estimates that in 2019, about 96 percent of households’ wasted food ended up in landfills, combustion facilities, or down the drain to the sewer system. The remainder was composted.1 Preventing food from going to waste is one of the easiest and most powerful actions you can take to save money and lower your environmental footprint by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving natural resources.

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Introduction to Food Insecurity Copyright © 2019 by Olya Glantsman; Jack F. O'Brien; and Kaitlyn N. Ramian (Editors) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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