How Much Food Will Be Wasted This Thanksgiving?

Report Issue

Please complete the required fields.

Your Name

Email

Reason (required)
This post contains broken linksPost has incorrect informationPost has spamCopyright IssueOther

Description

Submit

*An estimated 316 million pounds of food will be wasted in the U.S. on Thanksgiving — half a billion dollars worth of groceries thrown away in a single day.

*It takes an area the size of China to grow the food that is thrown away each year.

*Food loss and waste produces nearly five times more greenhouse-gas emissions than the aviation industry.

About 316 million pounds of food will be wasted this Thanksgiving, according to ReFED, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending loss and waste across the food system.

The 316 million pounds of food represents more than $556 million worth of groceries wasted in a single day. This discarded food could provide five meals each to the more than 48 million individuals experiencing food insecurity in the United States. In New Jersey, officials estimate that 1 million residents are food unsafe.

ReFED reports that nearly two-thirds, 58 percent, of the food wasted on Thanksgiving will come from just two sources: turkey and milk. The amount of wasted turkey alone is about 8.2 million whole turkeys, about 4 percent of all the turkeys the United States produces each year.

This wasted food will release nearly 5,000 metric tons of methane, or enough electricity to power 26,000 homes a year.

Thanksgiving dinner is historically affordable this year