Food Waste
Overview

45%
About 45% of all fruits, vegetables, roots, and tubers are wasted
We now produce enough food for everyone on the planet today. But we’re losing millions of acres of native grassland in the US to agriculture in areas like the Northern Great Plains. Producing enough food while limiting our impact on the environment is one of the biggest challenges of our time.
That is why an effective food strategy must address the issue of food loss and waste. In order to meet global food security needs, as well as the food demands of an increasingly affluent global population, we will need to both increase productivity and efficiency as well as reduce food waste.
Worldwide, humans waste one of every three food calories produced. These wasted calories are enough to feed three billion people—10 times the population of the United States, more than twice that of China, and more than three times the total number of malnourished globally. Wasted food represents about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is a main contributor to deforestation and the depletion of global water sources.
This makes reducing waste a huge opportunity. WWF is now bringing people together from the hospitality industry, retail, and food services sectors, as well as schools and farms to explore how to measure and reduce waste from field to table.
If you or your business is interested in innovative, new approaches to reducing food loss and waste, Further With Food, is a great resource for all of us to learn from each other and contribute to cutting food loss and waste in the US in half by 2030.
How produce delivered by mail could help both people and nature
What if you could get fresh fruit and vegetables from local farmers delivered along with your mail? In a new analysis, WWF looks at how the United States Postal Service—your daily mail carrier—could bridge the gap between farmers and food shoppers, in a proposed program we call Farmers Post.

Why It Matters
What WWF Is Doing

Markets Institute
As part of WWF’s Markets Institute, the food waste program is working to convene key stakeholders across hospitality, retail, and food services sectors to understand how to accelerate the adoption of strategies to measure and reduce food waste. We are also promoting data transparency, which will allow companies to benchmark food waste prevention performance with their peers and across industries.

Transforming Business

WWF is building on the success of its ongoing work with market leaders to increase adoption of food waste reduction programs, working to transform sectors where we see potential for the greatest impact. Our initial focus is measurement—establishing baselines and setting goals: we must first understand industry metrics today before we can determine the roadmap for success tomorrow.
WWF is working across the spectrum—from food producers to consumers and many others in between—to recapture food’s lost value from farm to cafeteria to dining room.
Hotels, which serve $35 billion dollars in catering and banquets each year in the US, are an ideal test bed to learn, iterate, drive waste reduction, and help reshape the food service industry.
WWF, in partnership with the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) and with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, engaged the hospitality industry in research and demonstration projects across the country to test food waste prevention strategies, understand the largest drivers of food waste, and determine the most effective staff, leadership, and customer engagement strategies to inform an industry best practices campaign.
Out of these projects came a toolkit to provide the industry with strategies, tips, and resources to prevent waste from occurring at their properties, donate what cannot be prevented but is still safe to eat, and divert what remains from landfills. Learn more at HotelKitchen.org.
Maximizing Farm Resources

WWF is working to better understand the amount of produce that is often left unharvested on farms across the US, and what drives that loss. WWF is working with partners from farmers to universities, trade associations and non-profits to form baseline measurements for loss of a few priority specialty crops. Our effort seeks to improve the way products are grown and sold, and to increase profits for farmers by finding markets and solutions that maximize farm resources and rescue more edible food.
Saving School Food

WWF is working with students and teachers, grades 5-12, to share the value of food and strategies for reducing waste. Schools can use their cafeteria as a classroom to conduct food waste audits and understand the connection between their food, wildlife, and habitat conservation. We aim to promote more sustainable and economical food procurement and service strategies in schools, and to build a culture of respect for food that can help students forge lifelong stewardship habits. Learn more about how your students or school can become Food Waste Warriors.
Press Releases
Publications
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Bending the Curve: The Restorative Power of Planet-Based Diets
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No Food Left Behind, Part 3: Second Helping: Can the Gig Economy Rescue Surplus Food from Farms
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Reducing Food Waste in Schools: The Business Case
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No Food Left Behind, Part 2: A Tale of Two Markets: A Model for Working Together to Fully Utilize the Surplus