We all love food, right? I love biting into a delicious Colorado peach in the summer, topping a pizza crust with a savory, homemade pesto or marinara sauce, or whipping up a stir-fry using only the tastiest veggies from my GoFarm share. But it’s startling that as much as we all love food, our society is so willing to throw it away.
40% of the food that’s grown, goes into landfill? 40 PERCENT! I hope you are as disturbed by this number as I am, as this also comes at a cost of nearly $218 billion to the U.S. economy.
Food waste occurs all along the food chain, from production to consumption. And even though there are many more details beyond what I will explain in this blog post – here is an overview to help you understand how this is possible.
1. On the farm
Waste occurs when food is left on fields due to inefficiency in picking, or when it can’t be sold to grocery stores because it doesn’t look perfect enough.
2. In the manufacturing facility
Waste occurs because grocery stores can easily cancel last minute orders due to changes in demand, and it leaves massive amounts of food un-purchased.
3. In the grocery store
Waste occurs because arbitrary expiration and sell-by dates are set just to move through product more quickly. Some grocery stores have "Last Chance" sections, but the amount of food sold through those channels pales in comparison to the food they send to landfills.
4. In commercial kitchens
Waste occurs at hospitals, schools, restaurants, catering companies, etc., when they buy way more than they need in order to make it seem endless.
5. At home, in our kitchens
Waste occurs when we let the food in our fridges rot, bags of chips go stale, or leftovers go uneaten. It happens when we cook fresh foods and put all the scraps in the trash bin. Consumers also throw out food because of confusing best by and sell by labels that often don't mean the food is unsafe to eat yet.
In fact, a 2012 report from the NRDC finds that "20% of food that the average American buys is never eaten." In the US, the average family of 4 throws out $1,600 a year in produce.
In all of these scenarios throughout the food chain – perfectly good, delicious food goes to the trash. This adds up to 2.5 billion tons of food wasted worldwide annually!
Don't worry - it's not all bad news. Keep watching GoFarm's Blog for more information on food waste and what you can do to stop it!
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This blog was originally posted in 2019: Updated Jan 8th, 2025.
