ReFED: “In 2019, an enormous 35% of all food in the United States went unsold or uneaten. That’s $408 billion worth of food – roughly 2% of U.S. GDP – with a greenhouse gas footprint equivalent to 4% of total U.S. GHG emissions. Most of this became food waste, which went straight to landfill, incineration, or down the drain, or was simply left in the fields to rot. Businesses, government agencies, funders, and others are already making efforts to address this challenge – but a massive acceleration is needed to achieve national and international goals to reduce food waste by 50% by the year 2030. ReFED is a national nonprofit working to end food loss and waste across the U.S. food system. We estimate that an annual investment of $14 billion over the next ten years can reduce food waste by 45 million tons each year. That investment would result in $73 billion in annual net financial benefit – a five-to-one return. Plus, every year, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 million metric tons, save 4 trillion gallons of water, and recover the equivalent of 4 billion meals for those in need. Over ten years, it would create more than 51,000 jobs – and achieve our 2030 reduction goal…”

See also Project Drawdown – “Roughly a third of the world’s food is never eaten, which means land and resources used and greenhouse gases emitted in producing it were unnecessary. Interventions can reduce loss and waste, as food moves from farm to fork, thereby reducing overall demand. Impact:  After taking into account the annual adoption of plant-rich diets, if 50-75 percent of food waste is reduced by 2050, avoided emissions could be equal to 10.3-18.8 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Reducing waste also avoids the deforestation for additional farmland, preventing 74.9-76.3 gigatons of additional emissions. We used forecasts of regional waste estimated from farm to household. This data shows that up to 35 percent of food in high-income economies is thrown out by consumers; in low-income economies, however, relatively little is wasted at the household level…”