Category Archives: Stats

Face the Facts–Waste and Hunger Both Too High

After last week, it must be infographic season! Here’s another great one, this time from Face the Facts USA. I like how the non-partisan myth debunkers linked waste and hunger. And, visually, seeing America’s annual waste fill 91 Empire State Buildings really communicates just how much food we squander. Nice job, folks!

August 6, 2012 | Posted in Stats | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

A new study from USDA researchers puts the total cost of food waste at 165 billion–just for retail and consumer segments of the food chain. And–that’s with 2008 data. So the total cost is certainly higher than that. — — Residents of Le Sueur, Minn. are not thrilled about a potential anaerobic digestion facility that […]

July 27, 2012 | Also posted in Anaerobic Digestion, Composting, Friday Buffet | Comments closed

Monday Leftovers

On the heels of Friday’s major outcry against waste by the EU Parliament, the head of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization spoke out against food waste this weekend. In other words, this issue is picking up steam. — — How did I not know there was a Discard Studies blog before now? A recent […]

January 23, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Environment, Food Safety, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Here’s an updated version of the study tracking the US climate impact of food waste. Food waste represents 1.5% of greenhouse gas emissions? Sounds about right… — — A UK professor has the dirt on the EU’s strict standards for veggies. — — For those of you on Netflix–you can now instantly watch Dive! the […]

January 6, 2012 | Also posted in Composting, Friday Buffet, International, School | Comments closed

Monday Leftovers

Finally! Someone quantified just how much greener it is to reduce food waste than to compost it. The Stockholm Environmental Institute found that avoiding waste has 30 times the benefit of composting, when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. — — If you want to see some beautiful pictures of volunteers gleaning broccoli and cabbage, […]

November 7, 2011 | Also posted in Environment, Food Recovery | Comments closed

Food Waste’s Emissions Impact

1.5 percent. That’s the percentage of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions stemming from wasted food, according to CleanMetrics. It’s not a massive figure, but consider this: The average person’s food waste contributes almost 5 percent of the emissions of the typical car. And 1.5 percent is a conservative estimate, as it doesn’t include restaurant waste. So […]

October 10, 2011 | Also posted in Environment | Comments closed

World Food Waste Study

Yesterday, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization released a very interesting report on global food waste. It contains mind-boggling new statistics, calls international attention to the issue and serves as a prelude to the SaveFood! conference next week in Germany. Here’s the key line: Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for […]

May 12, 2011 | Also posted in International | Comments closed

The Reports Report

Last week, the EPA released the latest version of its Municipal Solid Waste report. It’s a big occasion in these parts. If you’re like me, you eschew the fact sheet for the 189-page full report. Because the latter includes the all-important “products discarded” (on page 94). That represents what’s dumped in landfills, after recycling reduces […]

February 2, 2011 | Also posted in Household, Restaurant, Waste Stream | Comments closed

New Estimates for a New Era

It’s not every year you get a new USDA study on food waste! 2011 is off to a great start with the recent release of Consumer-Level Food Loss Estimates and Their Use in the ERS Loss-Adjusted Food Availability Data. It’s a mouthful, for sure. So what does it mean/contain? In short, the publication updates the […]

January 5, 2011 | Also posted in Household, Institutional, Restaurant | Comments closed

The Homefront

I recently revisited a study on one community’s food waste. More specifically, an Analysis of a Community Food Waste Stream (The full study isn’t available for free, unfortunately). The study tallies the food wasted in upstate New York’s Tompkins County. The county seems fairly representative, as the lead author Mary Griffin told me by email. […]

September 27, 2010 | Also posted in Household | Comments closed