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We all toss a half-eaten sandwich, a rotten banana or some burnt toast into the garbage from time to time. But, when you think about every person, every household, every farm, every grocery store and every restaurant in America throwing food into the trash each day, how much does that amount to? The answer is shocking: a football field. That’s right, Americans waste enough food to fill the 90,000 seat Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California every single day.
This is not meant to be a guilt-trip to make us “clean our plates” (as I was repeatedly told growing up, which, come to find out, is not the way to have a healthy relationship with food), but for me, the idea that we waste that much food was a major eye-opener.
According to Jonathan Bloom who wrote American Wasteland, all of this starts with growing more than we need. In fact, Americans waste 40% of what we grow for consumption–that’s over 230 billion pounds of food each year. That right there would be enough to fill the Rose Bowl to the brim–twice.
For us as individuals, we create nearly 5 pounds of trash every day. And since, on average, 12% of what we throw out is or once was edible, it’s safe to say that each us discards half a pound of food a day and 197 pounds a year. In just food. In fact–just to add more disturbing numbers to this trend–we waste 50% more today than we did in 1974.
On his blog, Bloomberg said:
When you’re looking for it, you see food waste everywhere–at restaurants, in large portions and even in your own refrigerator. If more and more people recognize their own food waste, we can take a bite out of this problem.
All of this adds up to more than just wasted food too. It means wasted resources. There is the energy required to haul the trashed food to the landfill. And once it’s there, rotten food decomposes and creates a potent methane gas that contributes to climate change.
Bloomberg says change happens with three steps:
Buy less. On average, we don’t eat 25% of what we bring home. We simply buy too much food because we either don’t plan ahead for our shopping trips, or we feel compelled to fill our mammoth refrigerators.
Think small. Based on USDA averages, a family of four throws away $2,200 each year in uneaten food. The main culprits are buying far too much food (leading to spoiled food) and dishing out more than our family and friends want to eat (leading to plate waste).
Composting. This is a good way to divert food waste from landfills.
And don’t forget to freeze more and recycle more.
Photo: tumblr.com
