How much food does the average American waste per year?
Rachel Newton
Updated on February 28, 2026
Also to know is, how much food does America waste per year?
ReFED estimates that US households waste 76 billion pounds of food per year. Approximately 40 to 50 percent of food waste (including 51 to 63 percent of seafood waste 46 happens at level of the consumer.
Also Know, how much food gets wasted in the US? In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply. This estimate, based on estimates from USDA's Economic Research Service of 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels, corresponded to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010.
Just so, how much food is wasted in the US each year in pounds?
72 billion pounds of food is lost each year, not including waste at home. Approximately 72 billion pounds of perfectly good food—from every point in the food production cycle—ends up in landfills and incinerators every year.
How much food is wasted in the US 2019?
All told, per the survey results, the average American adult will waste 6,180 pounds of food in their lifetime.
Related Question Answers
What country wastes the most food?
- France.
- Lithuania.
- Denmark.
- Austria.
- Australia. > Food waste per capita in 2018: 76.3 kg (168.2 lbs.)
- Canada. > Food waste per capita in 2018: 78.2 kg (172.4 lbs.)
- Belgium. > Food waste per capita in 2018: 87.1 kg (192.0 lbs.)
- United States. > Food waste per capita in 2018: 95.1 kg (209.7 lbs.)
What is the most wasted food in America?
Here's our list of the top five most wasted foods and how to use them up.- #1 Bread. Over 240 million slices of bread are chucked away every year.
- #2 Milk. Around 5.9 million glasses of milk are poured down the sink every year, but it's so easy to use it up.
- #3 Potatoes.
- #4 Cheese.
- #5 Apples.
How much food is wasted a day?
Americans waste about a pound of food per person each day, with people who have healthier diets rich in fruit and vegetables the most wasteful, research has found. About 150,000 tons of food is tossed out in US households each day, equivalent to about a third of the daily calories that each American consumes.How much food do American schools waste?
It's easy to see why school food waste goes unnoticed—America squanders just US$1.2 billion via school lunch annually, a tiny slice of the estimated US$218 billion in food wasted in America each year.How much food is wasted every day in the world?
World Food Day: The fight against food waste. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted or lost every year.Where does food waste end up?
Most of it ends up in landfill sites where it rots and releases methane, a damaging green house gas. Throwing away food is also a huge waste of the energy, water and packaging used in its production, transportation and storage.Why do we throw away so much food?
The environmental impact of our wastefulness is extraordinarily high, considering the huge amount of fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, and other resources needed to grow and transport food. And when it is dumped in landfills, decaying garbage releases vast amounts of methane.How wasteful is America?
As a nation, Americans generate more waste than any other nation in the world, officially with 4.4 pounds (2.0 kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) per person per day, with another study estimating 7.1 pounds (3.2 kg) per capita per day.How much food do supermarkets waste?
How Much Food Do Supermarkets Throw Away? Supermarkets throw away 43 billion pounds of food every year, according to the most recent study.How much food does a person waste in a year?
In another heartbreaking finding for sustainability advocates, a recently published study funded by the United States Department of Agriculture found that American consumers waste about one pound of food per day, or 225-290 pounds per year.How many lbs of food was feed America and its partners able to save from going to waste?
What began as a simple effort to pick up surplus food from a few grocery stores is now the largest, most effective food rescue operation in the U.S. Feeding America successfully rescues 2.5 billion pounds of food annually, and helps deliver it to people who don't have enough to eat.What is the most wasted food in the world?
Top five most wasted foods (and ways to save them from the bin)- #1 Bread. Over 240 million slices of bread are chucked away every year.
- #2 Milk. Around 5.9 million glasses of milk are poured down the sink every year, but it's so easy to use it up.
- #3 Potatoes. We discard 5.8 million potatoes each year.
- #4 Cheese.
- #5 Apples.
