U.S. households trash $640 in food a year

Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this story incorrectly phrased how much food Americans waste. It's $640 worth of food a year, per household.

American households throw away about $640 each worth of food every year, and consumers don't really care about the environmental impact of trashed leftovers piling up in landfills, according to a survey out Wednesday from the American Chemistry Council.

At a time when Americans may be more attuned than ever to the chemical makeup of food, buying organic and sourcing locally, they're still struggling to avoid throwing a lot of food away, data show.

While many Americans live on leftovers — more than half use them to make new meals and nearly two-thirds repurpose leftovers for other meals, like lunch — 76% also say they throw away leftovers at least monthly, according to ACC's survey of 1,000 adults.

The wasted money bugs 79%, and 45% are bothered because other people don't have enough to eat, but just 15% say they're bothered by the impact on the environment.

"For years we've been told to finish your plate, there are hungry people," says Steve Russell, vice president of plastics at ACC, a trade organization for chemical companies that also advocates for the use and recycling of plastics, such as food storage containers and packaging. "I just don't think we've done a good enough job yet talking about the environmental impacts of food waste."

Food waste makes up more than 20% of what's in landfills and is a significant source of methane gas as it rots, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to Earth's warming. Plus there's the environmental impact created by growing and shipping food across the country. Wasted food accounts for about 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, 35% of freshwater consumption, 31% of cropland and 30% of fertilizer usage, according to data cited in an article on food waste from Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future – part of the university's public health school – published in the journal PLOS earlier this month.

But most consumers aren't thinking about that when they throw away food, says Brian Wansink, author of Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life. That may be because the environmental effects of food waste aren't as visceral as feelings of guilt.

"What bothers most people is that it makes them feel foolish ... having to admit you were wrong to prepare so much food or serve so much food if we're not eating it," Wansink says.

The survey's findings fall in line with other research. In the PLOS article, "Wasted Food: U.S. Consumers' Reported Awareness, Attitudes and Behaviors," consumers were asked to rank their motivations for reducing food waste, and saving money came out on top, while factors like greenhouse gas emissions and using up resources such as energy and water ranked last: 22% said those issues were "not at all important" to getting them to reduce food waste.

Asked why they throw away food, consumers said it was mostly due to food safety and wanting to eat the freshest food possible, according to the research. Data suggest consumers may be underestimating how much food they throw away. More than half of consumers say they discard just 10% of their food, while 13% say they don't throw away any, according to the PLOS research. Yet government data estimates that nearly a third of food available for consumption in the U.S. goes uneaten.

Wansink, who studies consumers' food habits at Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab, says the most common sources of food waste are when consumers buy too much food or prepare too much for a given meal.

Cutting waste may be as simple as changing the way food is stored after it's opened, Russell says, making sure food is portioned into the right-sized containers and that air is squeezed out of plastic bags. Plus, consumers need to understand where items should be stored, such as putting bread and pastas in cool, dry areas while relegating fruits and vegetables to the refrigerator or at least out of sunlight.

"Air is the enemy," Russell says. "It causes food to rot faster."