Waste Today
According to ReFED, a nonprofit focused on curbing food waste, roughly 35 percent of food in the U.S. went unsold or uneaten in 2019. Most of this waste ends up being sent to landfill—current EPA estimates state that food and yard waste compose roughly 30 percent of the municipal solid waste stream sent to landfill every year.
Because this waste is left to decompose, it gives off a notable greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint equivalent to 4 percent of total GHG emissions in the U.S. (8 percent of GHG emissions when measured globally). These emissions have been directly linked to global warming.