Across the globe, one third of the food produced for human consumption goes uneaten. It’s a shocking figure—especially when 870 million people worldwide go hungry every day. Aside from the impacts on people, this level of waste carries with it high financial and environmental costs as well. The environmental impact is actually a double hit, with repercussions felt both from the production of food and from its decomposition. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food waste worldwide costs about $750 billion a year, and adds 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere.
In the United States alone, every year more than 52 million tons of food are sent to landfills. The overall cost of this waste—an estimated $218 billion a year—has ripple effects up and down the value chain, including the businesses that lose revenue, the consumers who pay for food and don’t eat it, and the millions of people who lack regular access to healthy food. The natural resources used to cultivate—and then dispose of—this food are staggering: 21 percent of all fresh water, 18 percent of cropland, 19 percent of fertilizer, and 21 percent of landfill volume. Sadly, this super-size waste occurs at the same time that one in seven Americans is food-insecure, or lacking consistent access to adequate food to meet their nutritional needs.
Where is the waste happening? In the United States, a fair amount happens at the farm level (16 percent), but most happens at businesses, such as grocery stores and restaurants (40 percent) and in consumers’ homes (43 percent). Any solution that hopes to tackle food waste must recognize and address the multiple places where it occurs, as food is produced, distributed, and consumed.
Collaborating to Develop Large-Scale Solutions
With focused efforts from concerned stakeholders, large-scale solutions to the problem are being developed. Waste Management is proud to have participated in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Food Recovery Challenge, which encourages individuals and businesses to prevent and divert wasted food. The Challenge is part of the EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program, which seeks to reduce materials’ environmental impact throughout their entire lifecycle. Waste Management brings its end-of-life materials management experience to the growing conversation around these topics.
We also participated in a separate effort known as ReFED—a multi-stakeholder group of more than 30 business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders that share the goal of reducing food waste by 20 percent within a decade. ReFED’s Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste by 20 Percent presents scalable solutions that would divert an estimated 13 million tons of food waste from landfills and on-farm losses. Central to ReFED’s approach is quantifying the economic benefit to society by showing how much money can be saved—and made—by reducing food waste.
According to ReFED’s analysis, the numbers are loud and clear. An $18 billion investment in ReFED’s scalable solutions could yield $100 billion in societal and economic value over a decade. This is the equivalent to:
1.8 billion meals recovered
1.6 trillion gallons of water saved annually
18 million tons of GHG emissions reduced annually
$5.6 billion in annual consumer savings
$1.9 billion in annual business profit potential
15 thousand jobs created
Clearly, reducing food waste has huge economic, environment, and societal benefits. However, education, funding, and policy shifts will be needed to make these numbers a reality.
To read the full story, visit http://mediaroom.wm.com/prevent-recover-recycle-finding-solutions-for-food-waste/.