Holiday Thoughts on Food and Waste

November 20, 2012

The Food Facts

Who doesn't enjoy a good holiday meal with family and friends? However, food abundance during the Thanksgiving to New Year holidays contributes to the general large increase in waste generation during this period. This season of giving and reflection presents an opportunity to take a look at our food waste and what each of us can do.

It is estimated that in the United States about 27 percent of all the food we produce for domestic sale and consumption is wasted.^[1] This figure, more than 34 million tons of food, amounts to some 14 percent of the total municipal solid waste stream. According to the EPA, food waste now represents the single largest component of MSW reaching landfills and incinerators.^[2]

American households toss out roughly 1.28 pounds of food each day. That amounts to more than 467 pounds per year,^[3] or about 25 percent of the food we bring into our houses. All this wasted food adds up to approximately $2,200 of a household's annual food bill.^[4] Environmentally, food waste contributes to substantial losses in water, energy, and other resources.

The overall loss rate for commercial retail food stores is estimated at around 5.63 percent; convenience stores waste an astounding 26.33 percent of food and fast food restaurants come in at about 9.55 percent.^[5] From supermarket "spoilage" or "blemished" food to restaurant trimmings and overproduction and cafeterias and our own homes, food waste is ubiquitous.

Reducing Food Waste

Just putting some thought into our meals will help in reducing waste.

Some Tips:

• Think about what people really eat. While vegetables are obviously an important part of every meal, people tend to eat less of them at big holiday meals—preferring instead the main course, say turkey and stuffing, and fun items like deserts.
• This goes for every day cooking as well. When planning meals, keep in mind what you know your family will eat.
• For holiday and all meals, try to make meal menus prior to shopping. Check to see what is already in your cupboards and plan meals accordingly using up your existing stock first.
• Always make a grocery list and do your best to stick to it. When shopping check the "last sale dates" on packages – especially when items are on special.
• At holiday meals it is important to plan for leftovers in advance. Save yogurt containers and margarine tubs to use for sending leftovers home with guests. Freeze and refrigerate remaining leftovers promptly. Package leftovers for easy use – lunches, freezer, reuse in other meals. Label containers, especially those going in the freezer, as necessary.
• Serve smaller portions, people can always get seconds. If its left on the plate it becomes waste; left unserved it can be reused.
• When purchasing food baskets or making food baskets or goodies be sure you know the goods will be eaten. Baked goods are a welcome treat by many; however those with dietary restrictions might appreciate fruit or something else instead.

While we will not solve the world's hunger problems, recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day; recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people.^[6]

Donating Unwanted Food

According to Feeding America, a nationwide network of member food banks, one in eight Americans now rely on food banks for food and groceries. Feeding America now provides food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. This is an increase of 46 percent over 2006.^[7]

Planning for holiday meals is a good time to check our cupboards for unwanted items that can be donated. Are you really going to use that can of lima beans? If not, consider donating it and other items that have been setting on your shelves to the local food bank.

Composting

Less than three percent of the 34 million tons of food waste we generated in 2009 was recovered and recycled. The rest ends up in the landfill or headed to the incinerator.^[8] Decomposing food that ends up in landfills produces methane, a major source of greenhouse gases.

Some communities are providing collection of food waste for composting. For most of us, however, sitting our food scraps out at the curb is not yet an option.

Backyard composting is an option available to most of us, however. Compost bins can be purchased on-line or at most garden centers. And, they make excellent holiday gifts! The Internet abounds with resources on how to start backyard composting. Composting will at least turn our food scraps into a valuable soil amendment and keep these wastes out of the landfill.

Many commercial establishments have started to send their food scraps to compost operations. Some states have taken a leadership role in working with businesses to reduce food waste through donation and composting. Massachusetts, for example, has worked with the grocery industry to compost food that cannot be used by food banks.

NERC has worked with schools and special events to implement composting. Several documents and resources can be found on the NERC website.

Happy Holidays from the NERC staff!

[1] "One Country's Table Scraps, Another Country's Meal," NY Times, May 18, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/weekinreview/18martin.html?pagewanted=all; U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Loss Project

[2] http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-basic.htm

[3] Using Contemporary Archaeology and Applied Anthropology to Understand Food Loss in the American Food System, Timothy W. Jones. PhD. Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology. http://www.ce.cmu.edu/~gdrg/readings/2006/12/19/Jones_UsingContemporaryArchaeologyAndAppliedAnthropologyToUnderstandFoodLossInAmericanFoodSystem.pdf

[4] BSR | Waste Not, Want Not: An Overview of the Food Waste Issue http://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_Waste_Not_Want_Not_An_Overview_Food_Waste.pdf

[5] Jones.

[6] Estimating and Addressing America's Food Losses, Linda Scott Kantor, Kathryn Lipton, Alden Manchester, and Victor Oliveira, USDA. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/FoodReview/Jan1997/Jan97a.pdf

[7] http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-studies/hunger-study-2010.aspx

[8] http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-basic.htm