According to the Environmental Protection Agency, as much as 50 million Americans don’t have enough food on a typical week yet the vast majority of Americans throw away as much as half the food they buy for themselves.
The Institution of Mechanical Affairs released a new report showing that between 1.2 billion and 2 billion tons of food is thrown away, regardless of it being edible, causing gigantic waste along the way.
“We produce about four billion metric tons of food per [year],” the report said. “Yet, due to poor practices in harvesting, storage, and transportation, as well as market and consumer wastage, it is estimated that 30 percent to 50 percent of all food produced never reaches a human stomach.”
The report adds that that figure is based solely on hunger. Over time, the amount of land, fertilizer, and water also figure into the cost to grow and ship food — so the waste goes beyond just throwing away perfectly good food.
“As nations become more affluent in the coming decades through development, per capita calorific intake from meat consumption is set to rise 40 percent by mid-century,” the report said. “These products require significantly more resource to produce. As a global society therefore, tackling food waste will help contribute towards addressing a number of key resource issues.”
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