Wasted Food: From Farm to Landfill

An analysis of wasted food in Maine, its sources and potential solutions.

What is "Food Waste"?

Food waste is a generic term that describes edible food products no longer used for their intended purpose. Instead of being consumed, these products are managed in a wide variety of ways - the most common being discarded into a landfill (EPA, 2021). For the purpose of this story map, I will be referring to food waste as wasted food as it stresses the value food can have after it is discarded.

Photo courtesy of EcoSmartWorld.com

Loss of food occurs at every stage from planting a seed to the ground to the meal on your dinner plate. At the agricultural stage, crop diseases and selective harvest influence what leaves the farm. In retail, date labels pose a big problem as most food is still edible after this date and many stores make no effort to put the item on sale before it's thrown away. In food service, large portions and wasteful kitchen practices may contribute to tons of waste in our landfills every night (Gunders, NRDC, 2017). There countless reasons food is thrown away in every sector.

The Problem

  • In the United States 30 to 40 percent of the total food supply is discarded each year according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service.
  • This equates to 133 billion pounds of edible food not being eaten
  • Meanwhile, over 13.7 million Americans are food insecure, meaning they lack access to nutritious and affordable food (USDA, 2019)

Uneaten food is the largest contributor of waste in U.S. landfills (EPA, 2021). As it sits in landfills the organic product is no longer able to break down and return nutrients to the soil, so it produces methane gas. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and its excess emissions have been accelerating anthropogenic climate change. Wasted food is also a financial burden on farmers, businesses, organizations and households. Resources used for the production and distribution of food include labor, energy, and natural resources and they are expensive. Through  The Business Case for Reducing Food Loss and Waste , a review of 1,200 businesses found that every one experienced financial benefits from reducing food loss. Finally, there is truly no excuse for mass amounts of uneaten food in an industrialized country with such high levels of food insecurity. Especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemics, numbers of food insecure households have been rising. Estimates of food insecurity have almost doubled in 2020 to 23% of households ( Schanzenbach & Pitts, 2020).

Pop-up food pantry in New York City during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of Michael Loccisano

A lot of pressure is put on consumers in the states to reduce waste - which is fair. The average American is tossing 1,250 calories worth of food away each day. There is a lot we can do as consumers to limit waste!

  • Buy less food at one time
  • Finish what is at home before buying more
  • donate excess food
  • compost what cannot be used

However focusing solely on consumers fails to address the whole problem. Only 43% of that wasted food comes from households. In this story map I will focus on data that addresses the other 57% of wasted food sources.

Wasted food across the U.S.

The heat map below of the contiguous United States demonstrates the density of wasted food from commercial, institutional and educational sectors. The areas with the most waste are yellow, which you may notice are some of the biggest U.S. cities - San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, etc.

Density of wasted food across the United States based on the EPA's excess food estimates.

Cities like San Francisco are hotspots for food waste. As human population continues to rise and cities expand, what are these regions doing to combat waste? Watch this short video to see how San Francisco is attempting to transition to "zero waste".

How San Francisco Is Becoming A Zero Waste City

Sources and Recipients in Maine

Here are some sources and potential recipients of wasted food in Maine. Points are sources of waste. Explore the map and click on a few points! You will notice each one is a different location with various features such as the low and high excess food estimate (tons per year). There are 6 categories used in the data for food waste sources. There may be categories left out, such as farms and households. However, it gives a rough estimate of how much food is being tossed every year in a given area.

Potential waste recipients are also located on the map as stars. They are separated into 3 categories, although there may be many more outside the data set.

This interactive map highlights the state of Maine and shows the concentration of food waste sources. Each circle represents the actual location of a food waste source. The larger the circle is, the higher the excess food estimate of that location. Remember that consumers are exlcuded from this analysis.

Proximity of food waste sources to potential recipients in Maine

The following interactive maps have buffers that show what waste recipients are within a 10 mile radius of sources. This is about the same distance from College of the Atlantic to Beech Hill Farm.

Healthcare Facilities

Each red points represents a healthcare facility in Maine. Notice which ones are within 10 miles of a potential waste recipient . There are 8 facilities that have none within a 10 mile radius.

Educational Institutions

These maps help to identify which waste sources are in need of near by waste management. There is a large group of schools in Northern Maine with no immediate recipients.

Correctional Facilities

It's dire that any gaps in waste management of food are addressed.

Food Manufactures and Processors

Food Wholesale and Retail

Restaurants and Food Service Pt.1

Restaurants and Food Service Pt.2

How was this data collected?

All of the following maps and charts were made using data from the  U.S. EPA's Excess Food Opportunities Map . Business statistics such as number of employees and revenue were collected multiple sources including Hoover's Inc. (an online business database), the Department of Homeland Security and the National Center for Education Statistics. Then, simple formulas were used to calculate excess food estimates. Here is an example of one formula used for estimating excess food from a food manufacturing and processing facility:

More questions? Visit the frequent questions forum below to read about methodology, accuracy and intentions of their study!

Potential Solutions...

Food banks, anaerobic digestion facilities and composting facilities are just a few ways that uneaten food be used. In order to combat this serious problem, we need a wide variety of solutions. Take a look at this Food Recovery Hierarchy created by the EPA to combat wasted resources:

Discussion:

You may notice the maps I have created have errors. The data collected from the EPA was missing many, many locations of both sources of wasted food and recipients. For instance, there were countless active restaurants not listed at all in the Restaurants and Food Service sector. There are also hundreds of food pantries not listed because they may be run by a religious organization or local group not listed by Feeding America. These gaps in spatial data demonstrate how important accurate information is to solving the wasted food crisis.

Acknowledgements

Photo courtesy of EcoSmartWorld.com

Pop-up food pantry in New York City during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of Michael Loccisano

Density of wasted food across the United States based on the EPA's excess food estimates.