Food Waste in America

Methane; a greenhouse gas with a warming potential 28x greater than carbon dioxide.

Restaurants in the US generate 10.4 billion pounds of food waste each year. US households generate $6.3 billion in tons of food waste every year. That’s 40% of food waste produced going into landfills.

Food waste in landfills actually sucks a lot because it produces methane, a greenhouse gas with a warming potential 28x greater than carbon dioxide. The EPA says methane accounts for about 25% of the greenhouse gasses contributing to climate change.

That’s bananas. So food waste is a significant economic, social, and environmental problem. Luckily, Fortune 500 companies are starting to track and measure food waste as a data point through scope 3 emissions.

Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions from an organization’s activities but not directly under the organization’s control. For the context of food waste, scope 3 includes the emissions produced by decomposition happening in landfills.

Scope 3 emissions also roll in the emissions created from supply chain activities. Think about the production, transportation, and disposal of any food product. If we took a box of bananas, what emissions were produced to farm and transport the bananas to retailers and consumers?

Further, what are the emissions produced if nobody eats the bananas and they turn into food waste?

By addressing food waste, we address climate change; and can reduce carbon emissions significantly. People talk about cutting portion sizes and only buying what we need. That language also sucks big time because it puts all the blame and hard work on consumers. Remember when Chevron blamed consumers for plastic straws as they dumped tons of oil into the Pacific ocean? Yeah.

How can companies and consumers reduce food waste together? Shoparoo is a B2C marketplace helping businesses fight food waste, lowering their scope 3 emissions, and generating net new revenue.

Acting as a B2C marketplace, we help grocery stores, large food suppliers, and restaurant franchises extend the distribution of food nearing an expiration date, simultaneously enabling consumers to shop for nearby food at a reduced cost.

Focusing on steps to make food distribution more efficient, we address broad topics like food waste and climate change. It’s important to remember that food waste is not an individual problem; it’s a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions. Businesses, governments, and individuals all have a role to play in reducing food waste and mitigating its environmental impact.