Estimating the Cost of Food Waste to American Consumers
In the United States, over one-third of food is never eaten, and more food reaches landfills than any other material in the municipal solid waste stream. Wasting food wastes the labor and other resources spent to produce, package, transport, and sell uneaten food; the nutrients in the uneaten food; and the money spent by households on food they did not consume.
EPA prepared the report, Estimating the Cost of Food Waste to American Consumers, to estimate the amount of savings available to Americans by reducing food waste. The report finds that the cost of food waste to each U.S. consumer to be $728 per year. For a household of four, the annual cost is $2,913, with an average weekly cost of $56.
