In a recent analysis by Trace One, a Product Lifecycle Management and compliance solutions company for the process manufacturing and retail consumer packaged goods space, it was found between 30% and 40% of the nation’s food supply is wasted annually; translating to millions of tons, and billions of dollars, lost.
While sectors like food service and farms each generate over 10 million tons of food waste annually, U.S. households are the largest contributors, producing more than 42 million tons of food waste each year. This not only contributes to air pollution, soil and water degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions but also impacts household budgets.
Researchers calculated the annual money lost to food waste per household and then ranked states accordingly. Indiana ended up taking 22nd place out of the 50 states.
These are the main takeaways from the report, highlighting some key stats for Indiana:
- On average, U.S. households lose more than $2,000 per year to food waste, while individuals lose an average of $792; the equivalent of 214 meals.
- Overwhelmingly, the primary cause of food waste in the residential sector is spoilage, accounting for $69.8 billion of waste each year. Other potential food safety issues like leaving food out too long or food mistakenly being considered inedible also rank highly as causes of waste.
- Prepared foods ($70.9 billion), dry goods ($49.5 billion), and produce ($42.8 billion) are the types of foods with the most money lost to waste each year by U.S. households.
- Individuals in Indiana lose an average of $826 to food waste each year, which equates to about 248 meals annually.
- On average, Indiana households lose $2,071 to food waste each year.
To see the full analysis by Traceone, visit traceone.com/resources/plm-compliance-blog/where-americans-lost-most-money-food-waste.
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