This Holiday Season, Fight Food Waste to Save the Planet
The abundance of foods of all kinds helps make the holiday season festive and fun. But when aging leftovers move on to becoming food waste, they can release greenhouse gases that drive the warming of the climate and pose a risk to the planet.
What is the Problem?
Does food waste really threaten the planet? Sadly, yes.
Almost forty percent of food produced in the U.S. is lost or wasted each year. This waste comes from our homes, restaurants, grocery stores, and anywhere else food is produced, packaged, and consumed. This uneaten food also contains enough calories to feed more than 150 million people each year, far more than the 35 million estimated food insecure Americans.
When Falls Church residents toss food into the trash, it eventually gets burned at the waste-to-energy plant in Lorton, VA. This puts CO2 back into the air and is an inefficient way to make electricity. And for every ton of CO2 emitted by burning wasted food downstream, a comparable amount was emitted upstream using fossil fuels to produce, process, refrigerate and ship the food that was ultimately wasted.
That’s why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that food waste in the U.S. causes about 170 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year, excluding emissions from food discarded in landfills or incinerators. This is equivalent to burning 20 billion gallons of gasoline.
In its assessment of solutions for fighting climate change, Project Drawdown found that reducing food waste was the most effective strategy, with a capacity to avoid the equivalent of 88 to 102 gigatons of CO2 globally between 2020 and 2050. For comparison, net global emissions from all sources are about 45 gigatons annually.
Reducing food waste helps fight climate change, but it also has other environmental benefits, including less use of freshwater, reducing application of pesticides and fertilizers, and reducing pollution resulting from transporting and processing unused food.
Another big benefit of reducing food waste is that it will save you money. The average household in America spends between $1,500 and $2,000 annually on food that just ends up in the trash.
What Can You Do?
Here are six things you can do to help reduce food waste and its emissions, starting at the source:
Don’t misinterpret packaging dates: ”Best If Used By” and “Best Before” simply mean the item may not taste or perform as expected but is safe to consume if stored properly. (Exception: infant formula can lose its effectiveness after the “Use By” date, so it should be discarded.) The USDA says, “Spoiled foods will develop an off odor, flavor or texture due to naturally occurring spoilage bacteria.” See their website and that of Recycle Track Systems for other useful tips.
This holiday season (and all year), lead by example and encourage kids to put on their plate only what they'll eat, and then come back for seconds. Make room in freezers and fridges for leftovers. And have takeaway containers at every gathering.
Reduce Your Food Waste with Creative Recipes: This article offers some recipes for reusing leftovers.
There will inevitably be some food scraps and items that spoil. Composting can help return much of their carbon content to the soil, and there are easy ways to do it:
Use the Free Falls Church City Food Waste Drop-Off Station: A low-cost option for disposing of your food waste is to use the City’s 24/7 Food Waste Drop-Off Station. Located beside the tennis courts behind the Community Center (223 Little Falls St.), the bins are available to anyone who lives or works in Falls Church.
Join the City of Falls Church Curbside Food Waste Compost Program: The City helps divert food waste by offering residents a program to collect it alongside your trash. The City Curbside Food Waste Compost Program will collect your food waste once a week and compost it. Food waste makes up about 25% of the waste inside an average Falls Church resident’s trash cart. The City provides a container and charges $8/month for the weekly pick-up.
Buy a Yard Composter: If you have yard space, you can compost your food waste yourself using any of the widely available composter bins. Here is an example product, and here is an evaluation of the 9 best yard composters for 2024. (They make a great holiday gift!)
Sustainable management of food and food waste is something everyone can do to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, fight climate change, and protect the environment.