impacts of food waste in landfill

The waste humans generate waste has been detrimental to our environment for quite some time now. Households toss limp vegetables. Buried food waste produces 7.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. CAST Commentary: Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Food and Agricultural Markets. Dent, S. 2020. Organizations can keep waste from landfills by providing leftover food to soup kitchens, shelters, and food pantries. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 106:110-123. 2020. Tonsor, G., and L. Schulz. Reason 3: Wasting food has environmental impacts Unprecedented amounts of food are wasted in the United States. Empty store shelves may be an indication that waste decreased for grocery retailers. Cows couldn’t stop being milked, so farmers who couldn’t find alternative buyers dumped huge quantities of their excess milk. However, it is not always feasible, particularly if farmers are expected to incur all the costs of getting the food to the food bank. In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30–40 percent of the food supply. Richards, T. 2020. Households that experience reductions in income will likely have less waste, as food waste is positively related to income. Restaurants often serve massive portions and trash leftovers. U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS). Consumers should be telling their favorite businesses that they care about food waste, asking them to prevent food from becoming waste in the first place and to donate any surplus. “We all need to reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfill and its significant impacts on our environment, economy and society,” says Professor Wheeler. Whether you’ve always been the family chef or are just learning to perfect your meal planning and cooking now while stuck at home, making your food go as far as possible can be a source of solace during this difficult time. At the farm-level, many farmers donated or sold their products to food banks when possible (Karidis, 2020; Evich, 2020). Jeffery, A., and E. Newburger. Learn to trust yourself more and worry less about the date labels on your food. both food loss and food waste) along the food supply chain, focusing on impacts on climate, water, land and bio - … 7 Some local governments use the fees as a general income source, but there is still a lack of funding for research and technologies for waste diversion. The net effect on household food waste is unclear, but there is likely to be significant heterogeneity across households. Many meat packing plants in the U.S. have experienced outbreaks among workers, which has limited processing capacity for some plants and resulted in temporary closures of others (Tonsor and Schulz, 2020). Food Spoilage — About two-thirds of food waste at home is due to food not being used before it goes bad. CNBC, May 2, Retrieved from: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/02/coronavirus-devastates-agriculture-dumped-milk-euthanized-livestock.html. A 2013 FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) report, which was the first study to analyze the impacts of global food wastage on the environment, says that nearly one-third of all food produced in the world for human consumption does not find its way to our tables. Other supply chain actors, including processors and grocery retailers, likely have not experienced such increases in food waste. Follow our work to save the food that goes wasted every day in America. Organizations will not only be able to keep food out of landfills – they’ll save money by not having to pay extra landfill fees. The causes of food waste or loss are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and consumption.Global food loss and waste amount to between one-third and one-half of all food produced. For households, changes in food waste will depend on several factors such as the extent of stockpiling behavior, food inventory management skills, potential negative income shocks, and sensitivity to rising food prices. swine, cow, fruit, etc. ReFED Feeds Funds to Organizations Feeding the COVID-Poor and Hungry. 2020. 2020. USDA Farmers to Families Food Box. The number of pounds of food that’s thrown out per person every year. As restaurants were allowed to re-open, the uncertainty around consumer demand for dine-in or take-out services may have also contributed to waste, though likely much smaller in magnitude than the initial shock of business closures. Malone, T., K.A. — Andrea Spacht Collins, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program. This FAO study provides a global account of the environmental footprint of food wastage (i.e. Outside of individual producers’ efforts, The U.S. Department of Agriculture started a food box program, which announced a potential purchase of $3 billion of fresh produce, dairy, and meat products, package them, and send them to US families in need.  According to their website, 35.6 million food boxes were delivered in round one (May/June), 38.9 million food boxes were delivered in round two (July/August), and 344,000 boxes will be delivered in September (USDA-AMS, 2020). Bloomberg CityLab, July 20, Retrieved from: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-20/how-covid-19-is-changing-local-food-system-design. The supply chain for food is complex and highly specialized. Karidis, A. ). CAST Commentary: Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Food and Agricultural Markets. Only 3% of the world’s water is fresh water, and two-thirds of that is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise unavailable for our use. Working together, Full Cycle Bioplastics, Elk Packaging and Associated Labels and Packaging make a compostable high-performance material from renewable materials, agricultural by-products and food waste to pack a broad range of products from granola bars and crisps to laundry detergent. Example 2: Chicken – Unlike milk, chicken producers did not have trouble finding buyers. Retrieved from: https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf. Through in-depth community engagement, such as through our Nashville Food Waste Initiative and Food Matters work, NRDC is helping cities plan and implement creative approaches to prevent food … 2020. Wasted food is a problem we can solve. Food waste or food loss is food that is not eaten. Food loss and waste occurs throughout the value chain, from farm production, handling and storage issues, to packing and distribution at the factory and, finally, during consumption by the consumer. Below are just a few examples: Example 1: Milk – When major buyers of dairy across the country – for example, schools and coffee shops – temporarily closed, the dairy industry suddenly had a surplus of milk on its hands. Processors are unlikely to be the party to incur waste when processing capacity is reduced; rather, producers are more likely to experience the waste because they cannot get the product off the farm and to a processing facility as highlighted in the chicken production example above. You’ll throw out less trash, and help fight climate change at the same time. Reuters, April 27, Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-livestock-insight/piglets-aborted-chickens-gassed-as-pandemic-slams-meat-sector-idUSKCN2292YS. By keeping good food from going to waste, NRDC is helping fight climate change, conserve our natural resources, and build vibrant, resilient communities. However, freshwater—the stuff we drink, bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with—is incredibly rare. 2020. Yaffe-Bellany, D., and M. Corkery. Other farmers, who sold products that needed little or no processing, were able to set up direct to consumer sales through farmers markets, CSAs, or independently through sales online (Danovich, 2020; Flatow, 2020). At the Global Climate Action Summit, a group of state leaders and city mayors from around the world, representatives from food businesses, and innovation financers joined together to discuss the climate opportunity of minimizing food waste. The volume and value of wasted food presents a number of opportunities to identify where the greatest benefits can be achieved in avoiding food waste or where it can be repurposed. (2020), some households may be willing to incur waste associated with stockpiling if it provides a sense of security in a time of a scarcity or if it allows for more social distancing (fewer trips to the grocery store). The term “wasted food” describes food that was not used for its intended purpose and is managed in a variety of ways, such as donation to feed people, creation of animal feed, composting, anaerobic digestion, or sending to landfills or combustion facilities. The disruptions have increased food waste for some supply chain actors, particularly producers who are strongly tied to the foodservice sector and foodservice operators who were forced to abruptly close. However, no amount of planning could prepare foodservice operations for the sudden shuttering of businesses during Covid-19. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2020. Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill. With a better understanding of the quantities of wasted food and where it is likely occurring, the city of Atlanta can focus their attention on solutions that address their real-world situation. For a detailed statement, please see the University of Illinois Copyright Information and Policies here. Several factors contribute to household food waste, including poor planning and inventory management, confusion surrounding date labels, and bulk purchasing (Gunders, 2012). How to Reduce Food Waste in Restaurants. For example, egg regulations were temporarily relaxed so that “breaker eggs”, which are typically sold to foodservice operations, could be sold in the table egg market, as eggs experienced significant demand increases during the early stages of the pandemic (Malone, Schaefer, and Lusk, 2020). The food and agriculture sector is both a major contributor to climate change and especially vulnerable to its worst impacts. Retrieved from: https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/farmers-to-families-food-box. Waste360. Take a Look at How Covid-19 is Changing Meatpacking Plants. For each actor, we discuss how Covid-19 impacted food waste and why such changes likely happened. Huffstutter. Thus, for producers who are largely dependent on the foodservice sector, increases in food waste could be quite significant due to Covid-19. Debunking five popular myths that lead us to needlessly throw out meals—and money. Thanks for signing up. Processors are often one of the most efficient nodes in the food supply chain when it comes to food waste. Retrieved from: https://www.fda.gov/media/136469/download. Finance, April 6, Retrieved from: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dairy-farmers-dumping-milk-covid-19-200219238.html. 2020. NRDC is helping ramp up federal efforts to prevent and reduce food waste from farm to fork. 3. Your freezer could be the secret to keeping ingredients fresh, saving money, and reducing food waste. Polansek, T., P.J. The benefits of recycling food waste include: Decreased demand for landfill space. However, it can take a lot of time, energy, and money to plan and execute food donation programs. 10 Strategies for Achieving U.S. Food Waste Reduction Goals - Fact Sheet (PDF), Assessing Corporate Performance on Food Waste Reduction: A Strategic Guide for Investors - Issue Brief (PDF), A Donor’s Guide to the Enhanced Federal Tax Deduction for Food Donation (PDF). On average Europeans produce 481 kilogrammes of municipal waste per year. Landfill waste plummeted 47%, from about 155 pounds in November to 82 pounds in February. Example 3:  Onions – About 40 percent of onions produced in the US are destined for restaurants. The profit that businesses could make each year by adopting strategies like food waste tracking and analytics, sizing portions correctly, and improving inventory and cold chain management. Thyberg, K.L, and D.J. Eater, April 2, Retrieved from: https://www.eater.com/2020/4/2/21200565/csa-trend-coronavirus-covid-19-stay-at-home-delivery-groceries. Using peer-to-peer learning to share information—and experience—around food waste prevention, food rescue, and food scrap recycling strategies. Buzby, J.C., H.F. Wells, and J. Hyman. Milk couldn’t be quickly re-purposed into other products with longer shelf lives, like cheeses, because of the limited processing capacity and cold storage. When assessing food waste impacts, it is necessary to pay attention to the following potential double counting: (i) LUC emissions and (ii) waste management emissions. Stockpiling, which has been a common household behavior in response to Covid-19, would be viewed as waste-increasing under normal circumstances because households often mismanage surplus food (Thyberg and Tonjes, 2016). At the retail-level, food waste in grocery stores is often attributed to: over-stocking of perishable products like fruits and vegetables to ensure consumers are satisfied with the product assortment and products reaching or nearing their stated or actual shelf life (Gunders, 2012). Baltimore, Denver, and several cities across the country were well-prepared to respond to the needs of their communities because they were already connected to the network of local anti-hunger groups. For example, fresh produce (think heads of lettuce) can often be packaged in bulk for foodservice buyers, but for grocery retailers, more individualized packaging is needed (Richards, 2020; Ellison et al., 2020). Balance Sheet & Historical Financial Statements, Briomass Crop Budget Tool – Miscanthus & Switchgrass, Illinois Soil Productivity & Yield Utilities, Farmland LEasing Facts Sheets & Pricing Information, Food Waste and Covid-19: Impacts along the Supply Chain, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/09/03/907128481/how-the-usdas-food-box-initiative-overpaid-and-under-delivered, https://www.eater.com/2020/4/2/21200565/csa-trend-coronavirus-covid-19-stay-at-home-delivery-groceries, https://www.kivitv.com/news/covid-19s-impact-to-the-economy-is-hurting-idaho-farmers, https://www.cast-science.org/publication/economic-impacts-of-covid-19-on-food-and-agricultural-markets/, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/26/food-banks-coronavirus-agriculture-usda-207215, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-20/how-covid-19-is-changing-local-food-system-design, https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-food-IP.pdf, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-dairy-insight/u-s-dairy-farmers-dump-milk-as-pandemic-upends-food-markets-idUSKBN21L1DW, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/02/coronavirus-devastates-agriculture-dumped-milk-euthanized-livestock.html, https://www.waste360.com/food-waste/refed-feeds-funds-organizations-feeding-covid-poor-and-hungry, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3672018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/08/us/meat-processing-plants-coronavirus.html, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-livestock-insight/piglets-aborted-chickens-gassed-as-pandemic-slams-meat-sector-idUSKCN2292YS, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-farmworkers/coronavirus-spreads-among-fruit-and-vegetable-packers-worrying-us-officials-idUSKBN23I1FO, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dairy-farmers-dumping-milk-covid-19-200219238.html, https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/farmers-to-families-food-box, https://www.fda.gov/media/136469/download, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/business/coronavirus-destroying-food.html, Trade and COVID-19 Ad Hoc Payments by Commodity, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. U.S. We are now seeing similar outbreaks in produce packing plants (Rosenberg, Cooke, and Walljasper, 2020). Let’s take plastic waste as an example. Up to 40 percent of food in the United States is wasted, contributing to extensive environmental, economic, and societal impacts. Our groundbreaking research has shed light on the amounts and types of food going to waste in three cities and identified opportunities to redirect surplus food to those in need. 2020. Since 1915, food waste has been identified as a considerable problem and has been the subject of ongoing media attention, intensifying with the launch of the "Love Food, Hate Waste" campaign … Further, for field crops, planting is done well in advance of harvest; producers do not have the flexibility to adjust production mid-season when demand disruptions have become apparent. Cosmetically imperfect produce is simply too good to waste. Up to 40 percent of the food in the United States is never eaten. The value of the food wasted by food-based businesses, such as restaurants, grocery stores, and food service providers. The role of food in the climate crisis and how it can be part of the solution. Food waste is not new or novel in our current food system; however, images and reports of whole fields being plowed under and millions of gallons of milk being dumped during a time of such economic hardship and increased food insecurity raises questions about how Covid-19 has impacted food waste along the supply chain. Waste is not only an environmental problem, but also an economic loss. Evich, H.B. How can we change the way we produce and consume so as to produce less and less waste, while using all waste as a resource? Hence, this paper also assesses the environmental effects of current and future end-of-life scenarios for takeaway containers at EU level. Politico, April 26, Retrieved from: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/26/food-banks-coronavirus-agriculture-usda-207215. Food waste is a significant problem that impacts both your profitability and the wider environment. We also offer practical solutions to address the vast amount of food wasted in the restaurant, retail, and institutional food service sectors. The amount of the food we throw out that ends up in landfills, where it emits methane and contributes to climate change. its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. There is a goal of halving food waste by 2030. Ellison, B., B. McFadden, B. Rickard, and N. Wilson. Join our fight in protecting our children from this dangerous pesticide. At the same time, 1 in 8 Americans struggles to put food on the table. Although home cooking has increased and consumers are buying more onions for home use, it has not replaced restaurant buyers. When Covid-19 hit the U.S., the media consistently reported on empty shelves at grocery stores. The New York Times, June 8, Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/08/us/meat-processing-plants-coronavirus.html. For more, see Parshina-Kottas et al., 2020; Polansek and Huffstutter, 2020; and Jeffery and Newburger, 2020. Through our national Save the Food campaign, we’re raising awareness among consumers—the number one source of wasted food in the United States—and arming them with practical tips and tools to cut food waste at home. It has been estimated that, by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions from food loss and waste could reach 5.7–7.9 Gt CO 2 e annually (WWF (pdf, 1Mb)). People are confused by food date labels. Rosenberg, M., K. Cooke, and C. Walljasper. Retrieved from: https://www.cast-science.org/publication/economic-impacts-of-covid-19-on-food-and-agricultural-markets/. Coronavirus Spreads among Fruit and Vegetable Packers, Worrying U.S. Officials. 2020. U.S. Department of Agricuture – Economic Research Service, Economic Information Bulletin #216. That includes climate-wrecking greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of the food system, plus water, fertilizer, packaging, labor, and more. Household stockpiling behavior likely decreased food waste at the retailer-level overall, though it is possible waste increased at the retail-level for more expensive products (for example, cuts of meat) as some households experienced negative income shocks such as losing a job or being furloughed and shifted to lower-cost alternatives. Lusk. Meat processing plants can have many people working in close quarters, which is not ideal for preventing the spread of Covid-19. In fact, more food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single component of municipal ... 3 Hall et al . To read more about this, see Huffstutter, 2020; Siekierska, 2020; and Yaffe-Bellany and Corkery, 2020.Â. Namely, unemployment has risen sharply during Covid-19. The Natural Resources Defense Council works to safeguard the earth - its people, Parshina-Kottas, Y., L. Buchanana, A. Aufrichtig, and M. Corkery. Temporary Policy Regarding Nutrition Labeling of Certain Packaged Food During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. An increasing share of this is recycled or composted, and less is sent to landfill. Food waste in the United Kingdom is a subject of environmental, and socioeconomic concern that has received widespread media coverage and been met with varying responses from government. Charles, D. 2020. Source reduction, or waste prevention, is designing products to reduce the amount of waste that will later need to be thrown away and also to make the resulting waste less toxic. Regarding the first, some LCI datasets already contains LUC CO 2 emissions in the inventory for crop or, more in general, animal/food farming (e.g. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also relaxed labeling requirements for packaged foods as a way to allow restaurants and other foodservice operators a way to sell off their food stocks when their businesses were shuttered (FDA, 2020). Some waste will eventually rot, but not all, and in the process it may smell, or generate methane gas, which is explosive and […] Food Matters: What Food We Waste and How We Can Expand the Amount of Food We Rescue - Issue Brief (PDF), Estimating Quantities and Types of Food Waste at the City Level - Report (PDF), Modeling the Potential to Increase Food Rescue: Denver, New York City and Nashville - Report (PDF), NRDC: A Holistic Approach to Reducing Food Waste - Fact Sheet (PDF), Don’t Waste, Donate: Enhancing Food Donations Through Federal Policy - Report (PDF), National Call to Action!