Their new initiative is called the “U.S. Food Waste Challenge,” and they’re targeting everyone from farmers to food processors to families in an effort to stem the flow of the 35 billion tons of food that get sent to U.S. landfills every year. According to the EPA, food waste is the single largest type of waste entering landfills. Various nonprofits and government agencies also estimate that an astonishing 40% of the food produced in this country never sees your belly, instead winding up at the bottom of someone’s garbage heap or compost pile. That’s a lot of irrigation water down the proverbial drain and petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides needlessly polluting our air and water. In fact, a 2010 study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology estimates that the amount of energy used to produce the 96 billion pounds of the food that gets thrown away annually in the U.S. equals about 185 million barrels of oil—23 times more oil than spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 BP oil spill, aka the worst oil spill in U.S. history. When that food gets to landfills, it decomposes and produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas with 20 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide. While a lot of that tossed-out food gets wasted by consumers, much of it is also thrown out by food processors, retailers, and restaurants, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental nonprofit that recently published a report on food waste. This new campaign is a big step forward for the USDA, which hasn’t even broached the subject of food waste since 1997, according to NRDC’s report. But now, polls are showing that people experience more “green guilt” over food waste than anything, more so than not recycling or leaving the lights on after exiting a room, and it appears that the government is catching up to those citizens’ guilty consciences. The two federal agencies have compiled a list of resources that will help food producers find alternative uses for produce and other perishable goods that don’t meet the exacting standards of grocery stores and restaurants, and are launching research initiatives into uses for other wasted food by-products, such as using sugar beet pulp from sugar production to make plastics or substituting potato peels for peat moss, an endangered resource that’s useful in farming and gardening. The USDA intends to help schools’ meal programs eliminate waste and even help meat processors find ways to compost meat samples and other by-products that can’t be sold. It also appears that the USDA will help connect farms, community gardens, farmer’s markets, and other retailers with food banks that can pass along the excess to those who really need it—and who don’t care if their carrots are oddly shaped. Check out the program’s website for more, including how you can donate fresh produce or download a Food Waste Audit log to find out how much you really waste and how much it’s costing you. More from Prevention: 7 Ways To Waste Less Food
