How Much Food is Wasted in America?
- Every day approximately one pound of food per person is wasted in the United States. This is between 30-40 percent of the food supply, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
- Food waste is a bigger problem than we understand here in the United States. The United States throws away more food than any other country in the world:
- nearly 80 billion pounds every year compared to the total of 1.4 billion tons of food wasted throughout the whole world, That’s estimated to be 30-40 percent of the entire US food supply, and equates to 219 pounds of waste per person. Believe it or not, food is the largest contributor inside US landfills. inside US landfills.
- As industry leaders committed to improving our environment and our communities, the members of the Food Waste Reduction Alliance are taking on the challenges of food waste to shrink our environmental footprint, and simultaneously address hunger in America. We will achieve these objectives by addressing the root cause of the food waste within our own operations and securing pathways to donate or recycle unavoidable food waste.
Wasted food is harmful for the economy and the environment. Together, we can end food waste.
Goal # 1
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Reduce Food Wastes
- An estimated 40% of food in the will never be consumed.
Goal # 2
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Donate Food to People In Need
- Some Food waste is safe to eat, providing nutrition to those in need.
Goal # 3
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Recycle Food waste when possible
- A landfill is the end of the line for food waste but when composted, it can be recycled into soil or energy.
Partner Organization
Second Servings’ mission is to alleviate hunger and reduce waste in the city by rescuing surplus food from businesses and conducting free same-day delivery to approved charitable meal sites. As the only prepared and perishable food rescue organization in Houston, we are growing exponentially and now reach approximately 175,000 people annually.