U.S.: Food waste by management method 2019

Of the approximately 106 million tons of U.S. food waste, about 66 million tons are generated by food retail, food services, and the residential sector. The largest amount from this food waste source is managed by dumping it in a landfill. This pathway accounted for close to 40 million tons of food waste. Just over 40 million tons are generated by the food manufacturing and processing industry. Less than a million tons of waste from these sectors is dumped on landfills.

Quantity of wasted food by management pathway in the United States in 2019, by waste origin (in million tons)

Characteristic	Food retail, food service, and residential sectors	Manufacturing and processing sector
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Release date

April 2023

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Region

United States

Survey time period

2019

Special properties

Food retail, food service, and residential sectors acounted for 66 million tons of waste, while the manufacturing and processing sector accounted for 40 million tons of food waste.

Supplementary notes

*The source notes: "These figures exclude the small share of excess food (473,027 tons) that food banks cannot distribute and is therefore food waste that is routed to other management pathways."

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