Many Americans find reducing food waste inconvenient.

by Sarah Phillips, CEO and founder, Ugly Produce is Beautiful

​Food waste at the retail and consumer levels is particularly prevalent in the United States.

We waste about 130 billion pounds of food in America each year. A recent survey,  shows that half of us are aware of the scale of this $160 billion  problem.. Almost 80 percent said they feel guilty when throwing food away, but 51 percent said it would be difficult to reduce household food waste. And 42 percent said they don’t have enough time to worry about it.

In addition, the study found that ​In particular, many aren't aware that food that ends up in landfills contributes to the release of methane, a major contributor to global warming. Not to mention all the fuel and fertilizer expended in food production that could be saved if we just ate everything on our plate.

We have to be encouraged, though. Although the percentage of Americans who say they’re willing to change behavior seems small, Dana Gunders, a food waste expert from the NRDC (National Resources Defense Fund, said the progress is encouraging. Four years ago, she said “nobody was talking about the issue and nobody was thinking about it,” she said. “To have over half the population think food waste is a serious problem is a tremendous achievement in terms of public awareness.”
Source: Bloomberg News

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