FOOD WASTE CRISIS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: THE KNOWN, THE OVERLOOKED AND THE UNDISCLOSED
- Available online in Detritus - Volume 30 / March 2025
Access restricted to subscribed members only
Released under All rights reserved
Copyright: © 2024 CISA Publisher
Abstract
With a loss of 1,250 calories per day per person or 140 kg/p/yr, the United States (U.S.) has a large problem with food waste. The later a product is wasted in the supply chain, the greater its environmental cost. Many food waste mitigation efforts focus on the retail and consumer stages, but there is also considerable food waste in the production phase, which includes growing, harvesting, transportation, storage and processing. The study is conducted in two steps: a bibliometric analysis of 218 articles on food waste in the U.S., followed by an investigation of options to meet food waste recovery targets. The study has identified three options to reduce food waste that are partially based on the bibliometric analysis. The options, Secondary Retail Food Stores, Enhanced Tax Credits, and a Task Force, were evaluated based on cost-effectiveness, diversion from landfills, and waste reduction using the Criteria Analysis Matrix method. The study found that establishing a multi-modal, multi-directional non-governmental Task Force to create awareness and spread knowledge among stakeholders, mainly consumers was the preferred policy alternative to tackle food waste issues in the U.S.Keywords
Editorial History
- Received: 14 Nov 2024
- Revised: 24 Jan 2025
- Accepted: 05 Feb 2025
- Available online: 02 Mar 2025
References
Anglou, F. Z., Sanders, R. E., & Stamatopoulos, I. (2024). Of the first five U.S. states with food waste bans, Massachusetts alone has reduced landfill waste. Science, 385, 1236-1240
Barrett, C. B. (2010). Measuring food insecurity. Science, 327, 825-828
Beausang, C., Hall, C., & Toma, L. (2017). Food waste and loss in primary production: Qualitative insights from horticulture. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 126, 177-185
Birch, C. J., Bonney, L., & Murray, S. (2014). Exciting future for graduates in the food industry – From agroecosystem to food health. Chronica Horticulturae, 54(1), 7-11
Bistline, J., Abhyankar, N., Blanford, G., Clarke, L., Fakhry, R., McJeon, H., Reilly, J., Roney, C., Wilson, T., Yuan, M., & Zhao, A. (2022). Actions for reducing U.S. emissions at least 50% by 2030. Science, 376, 922-924
Bolos, L. A., Lagerkvist, C. J., & Nayga, R. M. (2019). Consumer choice and food waste: Can nudging help? Choices, 34(1), 1–7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26758662
Buzby, J., Wells, H., & Hyman, J. (2014). The estimated amount, value, and calories of post-harvest food losses at the retail and consumer levels in the United States. Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-121), 39 pp
Chai, X., Tonjes, D. J., & Mahajan, D. (2016). Methane emissions as energy reservoir: Context, scope, causes, and mitigation strategies. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, 56, 33-70
Connell, D. J., Smithers, J., & Joseph, A. (2008). Farmers markets and the “good food” value chain: A preliminary study. Local Environment, 13(3), 169-185
Djeki, E., Dégila, J., Bondiombouy, C., & Alhassan, M. H. (2022). E-learning bibliometric analysis from 2015 to 2020. Journal of Computers in Education, 9(4), 727–754.
DOI 10.1007/s40692-021-00218-4
Donthu, N., Kumar, S., Mukherjee, D., Pandey, N., & Lim, W. M. (2021). How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 133, 285–296.
DOI 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.070
EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). (2020a). Waste Food Methodology Scoping Memo
EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). (2020b). Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: 2018 Tables and Figures. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 80 pp
EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). (2021). United States 2030 food loss and waste reduction goal. https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/united-states-2030-food-loss-and-waste-reduction-goal
EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). (2024a). Preventing wasted food in your community: A social marketing toolkit. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/forms/preventing-wasted-food-your-community- social-marketing-toolkit
EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency). (2024b). Excess food opportunities map. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/excess-food-opportunities-map
Evans, A. I., & Nagele, R. M. (2017). A lot to digest: Advancing food waste policy in the United States. Natural Resources Journal, 58, 177–214
Gelbman, U., & Hammerl, B. (2015). Integrative reuse systems as innovative business models for devising sustainable product-service systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 97, 50-60
Gunders, D., & Bloom, J. (2017). Wasted: How America is losing up to 40 percent of its food from farm to fork to landfill. Natural Resources Defense Council. https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/wasted-2017-report.pdf (Retrieved October 2, 2021)
Hammer, S., Hess, E., and Okun, J. (1997) Waste Prevention Technical Assistance Toolkit. Manual prepared for the Waste Prevention Technical Assistance workshop series, NYC Partnership for Waste Prevention/NYC Department of Sanitation, Long Island City, NY. September 30-October 1. Paged in sections
Johnson, L. K., Bloom, J. D., Dunning, R. D., Gunter, C. C., Boyette, M. D., & Creamer, N. D. (2019). Farmer harvest decisions and vegetable loss in primary production. Agricultural Systems, 176, 102672 (11 pp)
Kavanaugh, M., & Quinlan, J. J. (2020). Consumer knowledge and behaviors regarding food date labels and food waste. Food Control, 115, 107285 (5 pp)
Krones, J. S. (2019). The emergence of a food-waste-based commodity frontier in the United States. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 31(4), 91-105
Lee, D., & Tongarlak, M. H. (2017). Converting retail food waste into by-product. European Journal of Operational Research, 257(3), 944-956
Lowrey, J. D., Richards, T. J., & Hamilton, S. F. (2023). Food donations, retail operations, and retail pricing. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 25(2), 792-810
MacBride, S. (2021). Recycling reconsidered: The present failure and future promise of environmental action in the United States. MIT Press
Milne, J. (2017). Energy tax incentives in the United States: A comparative perspective on state aid. European State Law Quarterly, 16(1), 34-45
NRDC (National Resources Defense Council). (2021). Great Lakes Food Waste Policy Gap Analysis and Inventory (R-21-07-E). National Resources Defense Council, New York, NY. 63 pp
NYSDA&M (New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets). (n.d.). Food product dating. Agriculture and Markets. https://agriculture.ny.gov/food-product-dating
National Gleaning Project. (2023). Tax incentives and food donation for gleaning organizations. Association of Gleaning Organizations. 11 pp
Nesser, H., Jacob, D. J., Maasakkers, J. D., Lorente, A., Chen, Z., Lu, X., Qu, Z., Sulprizo, M. P., Winter, M., Ma, S., Bloom, A. A., Worden, J. R., Stavins, R. N., & Randles, C. A. (2024). High-resolution U.S. methane emissions inferred from an inversion of 2019 TROPOMI satellite data: Contributions from individual states, urban areas, and landfills. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(8), 5069-5091
Newsome, R., Balestrini, C. G., Baum, M. D., Corby, J., Fisher, W., Goodburn, K., Labuza, T. P., Prince, C., Thesmar, H. S., & Yiannis, F. (2014). Applications and perceptions of date labeling of food. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 13, 745-769
Overgaard, S. (2016). Denmark’s new grocer is selling expired food, and it’s a hit. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/02/29/468301837/denmarksnewgrocerissellingexpiredfoodanditsahit (Retrieved November 2, 2021)
REFED (Rethink Food Waste Through Economics and Data). (2016). A roadmap to reduce U. S. food waste by 20 percent. https://www.refed.com/downloads/ReFED_Report_2016.pdf
Read, Q. D., Brown, S., Cuéllar, A. D., Finn, S. M., Gephart, J. A., Marston, L. T., Meyer, E., Weitz, K. A., & Muth, M. K. (2020). Assessing the environmental impacts of halving food loss and waste along the food supply chain. Science of the Total Environment, 712, 136255.
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136255
Schultz, J. (2017). Fighting food waste. National Conference of State Legislatures. https://www.ncsl.org/research/agriculture-and-rural-development/fighting-food-waste.aspx (Retrieved October 3, 2021)
Second Harvest Heartland. (n.d.). Fighting hunger in Minnesota: Expanding farm to food shelf. https://www.house.mn.gov/comm/docs/7zBo_vEzMk_36v6woEoang.pdf
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Yale University Press
Thyberg, K. L., & Tonjes, D. J. (2016). Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 106, 110-123
Tonjes, D. J., Manzur, S., Wang, Y., Firmansyah, F., Thyberg, K., & Hewitt, E. (2024). Chautauqua County MSW and Recyclables Waste Characterization Report September 2023. Waste Data and Analysis Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Tsang, C. R. L. (2020). Bike-powered food scraps collection: Mapping community composting green spaces (Master’s thesis, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona)
UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). (2021). Food Waste Index Report. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/unep-food-waste-index-report-2021
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). (n.d.-a). Food loss and waste. U.S Department of Agriculture. https://www.usda.gov/foodlossandwaste
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). (n.d.-b). Food waste activities. Retrieved from https://www.usda.gov/about-food/food-safety/food-loss-and-waste/food-waste-activities
Wang, S. L. (2014). Cooperative extension system: Trends and economic impacts on U.S agriculture. Choices, 29(1), 1-8
Wang, Y-S., Odle, W. S. III, Eleazar, W. E., & Barlaz, M. A. (1997). Methane potential of food waste and anaerobic toxicity of leachate produced during food waste decomposition. Waste Management & Research, 15(2), 149-167
Zhang, J., Qin, Q., Li, G., & Tseng, C.-H. (2021). Sustainable municipal waste management strategies through life-cycle assessment method: A review. Journal of Environmental Management, 287, 112238