According to former University of Arizona anthropologist Timothy Jones in the article ‘the food not eaten’
(culinate.com) “more than 40% of all food produced in America is not eaten…that amounts to more than 29 million tons of food waste each year…nationwide, food scraps make up 17% of what we send to landfills.”
In the article ‘waste not/want not wastes’ (epa.gov) “Food waste is…(a) lost opportunity to feed hungry Americans…(and has) negative effects on our environment.” We spend $1 billion annually “to dispose of excess food.” The epa suggests a “food waste reduction hierarchy–feeding people first, then animals, then recycling, then composting…to create valuable fertilizer.”
Feeding people who are facing hunger is where America’s Second Harvest Network makes an incredible difference to our nation!  They “create partnerships with growers, retailers, processors and restaurants—and encourage them to donate, not dump.” The network of food-banks and food-rescue organizations moves the food to where it is most needed, then safely stores and distributes groceries to local charities who feed families in need. For every $1 donated, $30 worth of food can be distributed to people facing hunger—36 million people in our nation alone! (secondharvest.org)
This is a win-win situation! Instead of adding food to rot in landfills, which releases methane emissions and adds to global warming, let’s be careful to buy what we need and use what we buy. Let’s make sure that excess food gets to those who are hungry by volunteering and supporting local soup kitchens and food banks. We can plan our meals and stick to our grocery lists—we spend over $100 billion a year on food that we wind up throwing away. We can research ways to convert waste-to-energy and get creative on how to reuse our waste rather than wasting our money on disposal and adding to the ever-widening need for landfill space.