Macroeconomics of Food Waste

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)tracks food waste in the United States. They list food waste as the "single-largest component of the waste stream by weight" in the country. Americans waste 25% of the food we prepare each year.

This waste amounts to 96 billion pounds annually.

Click the photo below to be directed to their website:


Restaurants are included in the statistics. You can lower your food cost and the costs to dispose of waste (both sewage and garbage removal costs) and help the environment.

Food donations, offering urban gardening groups waste for compost and recycling fry oil for diesel are some of the solutions we read about currently.

The New York Times, October 9, 2008, article "Farmer in Chief" has two amazing facts:

After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy — 19 percent.

A bushel of grain takes approximately a half gallon of oil to produce; grass can be grown with little more than sunshine.

Combining these facts, we could cut the use of oil used to grow food which will eventually be wasted if we never order the excess food in the first place.