The yogurt that’s past its “sell by” date. The banana in your lunch that turned brown. The leftovers in the fridge that you forgot to eat. For most people, all that food goes right into the trash.
Americans throw out 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. each year, according to the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (N.R.D.C.). Worldwide, 1.3 billion tons of food goes to waste each year, worth nearly $990 billion, the United Nations (U.N.) estimates.
Experts say that food could go a long way toward solving world hunger. But they also point out that there’s another, less obvious reason to be concerned about food waste: It’s one of the top drivers of climate change.
Eight to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are related to food waste, according to a report released in August by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In fact, global food waste accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any country aside from China and the U.S.
The yogurt that’s past its “sell by” date. The banana in your lunch that turned brown. The leftovers in the fridge that you forgot to eat. For most people, all that food goes right into the trash.
Americans throw out 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. each year, according to the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council (N.R.D.C.). Worldwide, 1.3 billion tons of food goes to waste each year, the United Nations (U.N.) estimates. That’s worth nearly $990 billion.
Experts say that food could go a long way toward solving world hunger. But they also point out that there’s another, less obvious reason to be concerned about food waste. It’s one of the top drivers of climate change.
In August, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report about this issue. They found that 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are related to food waste. In fact, global food waste accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than any country aside from China and the U.S.