Food; It costs Too Much to Waste

Consider These Facts

- One ton of methane has the global warming potential of 23 tons of carbon dioxide. A single dairy cow produces the equivalent to over 1.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide.1

- Through the process of digestion, livestock emit 16% of the world's annual production of methane gas. 1

- Raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. 2

- The livestock industry alone is responsible for 37 percent of human-induced methane emissions. Methane has 21 times the global warming potential of CO2. 2

- Americans throw away more than 25 percent of the food we prepare, about 96 billion pounds of food waste each year.3

- The nation spends about 1 billion dollars a year to dispose of food waste.3

- In 2007, almost 12.5 percent of the total municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in American households was food scraps.3

- The decomposition of food and other waste under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.3

1. World Watch Institute. (2004, July/August). Meat: Now It's Not Personal. World Watch.
2."Rearing Cattle Produces More Greenhouse Gases Than Driving Cars, UN Report Warns," UN News Centre, 29 Nov. 2006.
3. Epa.gov