U.S. Consumers Waste $161.6 Billion Per Year

According to National Institutes of Health, U.S. consumers waste up to 50 percent more food than Americans did in the 1970s. In fact, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten. The estimated value of this food loss was $161.6 billion using retail prices. The main culprit is the trend toward fresh food. “A lot of product is excluded earlier in the supply chain because not everything grows that perfectly,” said Dana Gunders, a scientist focused on food and agriculture for the Natural Resources Defense Council. In California alone, 25% of all state landfill waste is from food and agricultural waste. As the world’s population projected to add 2.4 billion more people in the next three decades, food demand is expected to grow and food waste will become a big issue. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a U.S. family of four discards around $1,500 a year on food. Don’t be a part of the problem. We all can address this issue of food waste starting in our own household. (cnbc.com)