Food Waste in the United States

I began my research on food waste. I obtained the following information from the EPA website that is absolutely shocking:
33 million tons of food was thrown away in 2010, which is 100 billion pounds. This also means that 3000 pounds of food is wasted per second.
"Almost half of the food in the United States goes to waste"
"Food waste represents the largest component of municipal solid waste reaching land fills and incinerators."
Food waste losses account for up to $100 billion per year, 30-40 billion occurring within the commercial or retail sector. 20 billion occurring from farming and food processing.
Environmental impacts of food waste:
Food waste is a significant source of methane, which is a green house gas with 21 times the global warming potential as carbon dioxide.
Landfills account for 21% of methane emissions from humans.


I read a pamphlet on the EPA website entitled "Putting Surplus Food to Good Use"
It outlines the economic as well as the environmental and social benefits of eliminating and putting food waste to good use.
Economic Benefits:
Decreases disposal fees. Food banks often provide food pick ups. *composting fees are generally less than incinerator fees.
Decrease purchasing costs by only buying what you need.
Increase tax deductions by donating to charities
Increase revenue from selling compost.
Environmental Benefits
Using food waste as compost improves the health of soils
Reducing waste will conserve landfill space as well as decreasing methane emissions.
It will also decrease the amount of incinerator ash that is released into the air