Do you know?

Food waste negatively impacts the environment, economy, society, and health, according to available research.

Does any of this concern you?

Globally, almost 50% of the food produced is wasted according to the Food and Agriculture Organization
In the US, over 40% of the national food supply is lost mostly at the retail and consumer levels totaling a loss of about $161 billion annually
In the US, 25% of freshwater use is accounted for by wasted food. Wasted food also leads to the waste of energy, land, and human resources.
Wasting food potentially worsens food insecurity in vulnerable populations
Wasted food also leads to methane production, a harmful greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.

The animated graph shows data publicly available from the United States Department of Agriculture. In my graph, I show that while the US population is steadily increasing, food waste remains very high, thus creating a larger gap in the food-supply need. But the land and natural resources needed for additional food supply remains the same.

Data presentation by MMC, last updated December 17, 2022