Food Waste and Global Warming

Here are some facts about food waste and its enormous impact on global warming:

• 40% of our food is wasted and if our country reduced food waste by only 15%, we'd feed 25 million more people every year.¹
• Every 100 pounds of food waste in our landfills sends 8.3 pounds of methane into the atmosphere. Methane has 28 times the global warming effect of carbon dioxide.²
• If global food waste were a country, it would rank third in greenhouse gas emissions after China and the U.S. Here's how food waste breaks down by type of food worldwide.³
• Reducing food waste is the third most impactful solution to global warming, according to Paul Hawken's Project Drawdown.⁴
• 25% of all freshwater in the U.S. is used to produce our wasted food each year.⁵
• There were 1,249 calories of food waste per capita each day in the U.S. in 2010 at the retail/consumer level.⁶
• According to a 2008 Marin Sanitary Service study, 9.4 million pounds of food waste were being disposed into Marin landfills at that time.⁷ MSS is doing great work with Marin residents and businesses to reduce that total, but there is clearly much fresh food being wasted in our county. Joe Garbarino, owner of Marin Sanitary Service, reports that “nearly 30% of the waste that goes to the landfill is food” in Marin.⁸
• California state law requires businesses with a minimum amount of organic waste, including food and food scraps, to recycle it -- rather than having it disposed in our landfills -- as of April 1, 2016.

It is heartbreaking to see men, women, and children go hungry in our community. And it is heartbreaking to see so much fresh, nutritious food go to waste.

Please join us in helping to end hunger and food waste in Marin County:

           Make a Gift    Donate Food    Volunteer    Receive Food

¹ Natural Resources Defense Council, “Wasted: How America is losing up to 40% of its food from farm to fork to landfill,” 2017.

² U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

³ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Food wastage footprint & climate change,” 2015

⁴ Project Drawdown, 2017.

5 Hall KD, Guo J, Dore M, Chow CC (2009) The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. PLoS ONE 4(11):e7940

6 USDA Economic Information Bulletin EIB-121, February 2014.

7 Marin Sanitary Service, personal communication, January 2014.

8 Marin Independent Journal, March 19, 2014.
 

Tips on Reducing Food Waste

• At work: If you have excess edible food -- prepared food, produce, dairy, eggs, meat, packaged goods, baked goods -- contact us! If you work in a food-service business, the EPA has an extensive guide to reducing wasted food and packaging here. And if you're a Marin Sanitary Service customer, check out their food-scraps-to-energy program here.

• At home: first learn the basics. Here's a good, 1-page overview and the NRDC's Dana Gunders has a great new book here.

• Then: Get clear on food dating. Wondering how long food lasts, when stored properly, past the often-confusing "use-by", "sell-by" and "best-by" dates? Here's a great overview from the USDA. The NRDC explains in this article how confusing dates on food leads to waste and provides this infographic on organizing your refrigerator to reduce waste. And here's a brief TV news piece explaining that many foods last long after the date printed on their packaging when stored properly. This brief Wall Street Journal video is also helpful.

Take a look at EatByDate.com's easy search tool here -- you can quickly look up any type of food and how long they say it will last when properly stored. (A handy infographic based on EatByDate.com's data is here.) You can also find guidelines on the shelf life of food at ShelfLifeAdvice.com.

Have extra non-perishable items at home? Consider donating them to the SF-Marin Food Bank or starting a food drive.

• At school: If you have excess edible food at your school, contact us! And here's a good infographic from the USDA on how schools can reduce food waste.

• In a faith-based organization: Check out the EPA's resources for you here. And of course, if you have excess edible food, contact us!