More than one-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten, wasting the resources used to produce, transport, process, and distribute it – and much of it is sent to landfills, where it breaks down and generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
So says two newly released reports from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quantifying methane emissions from landfilled food waste and emphasizing the importance of reducing the amount of food that is wasted and managing its disposal in more environmentally friendly ways.
In response to these findings, EPA is releasing an update to its Food Recovery Hierarchy, a tool to help decision makers, such as state and local governments, understand the best options for managing food waste in terms of environmental impacts.
The release of the new ranking – called the Wasted Food Scale – marks the first update since the 1990s, reflecting more recent technological advances and changes in operational practices.
EPA's research confirms that preventing food from being wasted in the first place, or source reduction, is still the most environmentally beneficial approach.
The research announced today represents the first time EPA has quantified methane emissions from landfilling. This novel work published modeled estimates of annual methane emissions released into the atmosphere from landfilled food waste, giving a cost of landfilling food waste in terms of the impact on climate change.
EPA conducted an analysis to estimate annual methane emissions from landfilled food waste from 1990 to 2020 and found that while total emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are decreasing, methane emissions from landfilled food waste are increasing.
These estimates indicate that diverting food waste from landfills is an effective way to reduce methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas, from MSW landfills.
EPA reports being released today include:
• "From Field to Bin: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste Management Pathways," which examines the environmental impacts of disposing of food waste. This report synthesizes the latest science on the environmental impacts of how food waste is commonly managed in the U.S. This report completes the analysis that began in the 2021 companion report, "From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste ," which analyzed the environmental footprint of food waste in the farm to consumer supply chain.
• "Quantifying Methane Emissions from Landfilled Food Waste" represents the first time EPA has published modeled estimates of annual methane emissions released into the atmosphere from landfilled food waste. More food reaches MSW landfills than any other material, but its contribution to landfill methane emissions has not been previously quantified.
Editor’s Note: GASP remains concerned about the intersection of food waste and air pollution and wants to share some resources for local folks to take meaningful action. First, the EPA has resources where you can learn more about preventing wasted food at home. We highly recommend folks who are concerned about food waste check out local nonprofit 412 Food Rescue. And check out our blog for some other ways to stave off food waste.