Last week, founding Zero Food Waste Coalition (ZFWC) member ReFED — with support from Global Methane Hub — released a study revealing the methane hotspots for uneaten food in the U.S. The report also included corresponding solutions that can reduce food waste and slash methane emissions.

This first-of-its-kind data emphasizes how wasting less food is a critical lever to mitigate climate change because it is effectively a one-two punch—reducing methane both in the production of food as well as in its disposal. Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas that is increasingly being targeted as an “emergency brake” to limit catastrophic warming.

According to the report, surplus food is responsible for almost four million metric tons of methane, which equates to nearly 14% of the country’s total methane emissions and the equivalent to what’s generated by 75 million cars annually. Methane comes both from the production of food—primarily beef and dairy—and from systems like landfills and sewers used to manage food when it becomes waste.

The Coalition was excited to see that in addition to providing an accurate picture of the urgent state of food waste-caused methane production, ReFED also included key strategies to achieving reduced methane emissions from food loss and waste, including:

• Establishing organics diversion infrastructure,
• Addressing consumer food waste, and
• Incentivizing business adoption of food waste prevention solutions.
• Accurate data is critical to implementing the most impactful solutions, and the Coalition congratulates ReFED and the Global Methane Hub teams on this innovative learning tool that will help drive progress toward reducing food waste related methane emissions, thus helping slow down global warming.

To read the full report, click here.

To learn more about or join the Zero Food Waste Coalition, please email zfwcoalition@gmail.com.

---

The Zero Food Waste Coalition aims to inform and influence policy at the local, state, and federal levels, and share policy updates and opportunities with partners and stakeholders around the country to bring consumers, businesses, and government together to make food loss and waste history. The Coalition was launched by NRDC, WWF, ReFED, and FLPC in April 2023, formalizing a partnership that began in January 2020.

CONTACT:
Zero Food Waste Coalition, zfwcoalition@gmail.com