The Importance Of Food Waste In The United States

Imagine taking a trip to the local grocery store and purchasing 20 pounds worth of food. Now, imagine dumping all of this food into the dumpster. This is the amount of food that each person in America wastes each month, which translates to 40% of all food in America (Gunders, 2012). In fact, America wastes enough food to fill the Rose Bowl stadium every single day (Bloom, 2010). This enormous amount of food waste means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $164 billion each year (Gunders, 2012). Aside from negative economic impacts, food waste creates consequences for climate, water and land use, and biodiversity. Due to these extensive and serious consequences, the issue of food waste is an urgent environmental public health problem that the next President of the United States should place at the top of his or her platform.
Of the 60 million tons of food waste generated in 2010, 40 million tons ended up in landfills (Food Waste Reduction Alliance, 2013). Food that ends up in landfills ultimately contributes to pollution and global warming, as it rots and emits copious amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas with 25 times more potent global warming potential than
The US government should establish national goals for food waste reduction. Confusing and misleading date labels on food products should be changed to a label system that is less likely to lead to misinterpretation by consumers, thereby preventing premature food disposal. Both state and local governments should carry out campaigns that encourage both residents and businesses to prevent food waste. Although the issue of food waste is complex and occurs at multiple levels of food production and consumption, it cannot be ignored. Therefore, it will be the duty of the President to prompt mitigation of the problem and encourage Americans to keep food out of the