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Generators of Food Waste
Food Waste
Food waste is generated from many sources: food manufacturing and processing facilities; supermarkets; institutions such as schools, prisons, and hospitals; restaurants and food courts; and households. Food waste is categorized as either pre-consumer (i.e., food prep waste) or post-consumer waste (e.g., leftover food or plate scrapings).
Large-Scale Generators
Food service providers (e.g., supermarkets, institutions, restaurants) produce a significant amount of food waste each day. EPA is encouraging these large-scale food waste generators to manage their surplus food and to implement a food waste diversion program. Putting Surplus Food to Good Use: A How-To Guide for Food Service Providers (PDF) (2 pp, 1.1MB, about PDF) uses the food waste recovery hierarchy to help these businesses find productive ways to use their surplus food. Separating and managing food scraps can result in both economic and environmental benefits.
Small-Scale Generators and Homeowners
Individuals, households, and other small scale generators of food waste often don’t realize just how much food they throw away every day—from uneaten leftovers to spoiled produce. According to Food Loss and the American Household 
, a 2006 study, American households throw away 14 percent of the food they purchase, an average of 470 pounds of food into the trash annually. This costs a family of four nearly $600/ year – money that could be spent on other consumer goods.
By paying attention and taking some simple steps, individuals and households can significantly reduce the amount of food and money wasted every year. Visit the household food waste page to find ways you can make the most of the food you buy — greening your wallet and your corner of the planet.
What You Can Do
Follow the Food Waste Recovery Hierarchy
In Waste Not, Want Not: Feeding the Hungry and Reducing Solid Waste Through Food Recovery (PDF) (59 pp, 1.5MB, about PDF) both EPA and USDA recommend following the “food recovery hierarchy” below as the preferred options to make the most of excess food. The food waste recovery hierarchy comprises the following activities, with disposal as the last, and least preferred, option:
- Source Reduction – Reduce the amount of food waste being generated;
- Feed People – Donate excess food to food banks, soup kitchens and shelters;
- Feed Animals – Provide food scraps to farmers;
- Industrial Uses – Provide fats for rendering; oil for fuel; food discards for animal feed production; or anaerobic digestion combined with soil amendment production or composting of the residuals
- Composting – Recycle food scraps into a nutrient rich soil amendment
Food Hierarchy
Think of it as the “3 R’s” for food – reduce, reuse, and recycle. And since food is such an incredibly valuable resource that can be used to protect our soil and water or grow our next generation of crops, there are so many better uses for it to consider before putting in a landfill or incinerator. If food is anaerobically digested for renewable energy production, then the residuals (digestate) can, and should, be put to beneficial use to then feed the soil – not landfills.
The good news is that food waste reduction, recovery and recycling is already occurring across the country. Businesses, institutions, and individuals alike are being encouraged to make the most of what they have by reducing their food waste, separating excess food for donations, and composting the remainder. Reducing, donating and recycling excess food can have a major impact on “greening” both your financial bottom-line and the environment.
