United States wastes 40% of food
"Getting food from the farm to our fork eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of all freshwater consumed in the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. This not only means that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year, but also that the uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills as the single largest component of U.S. municipal solid waste where it accounts for a large portion of U.S. methane emissions."
"Reducing food losses by just 15 percent would be enough food to feed more than 25 million Americans every year at a time when one in six Americans lack a secure supply of food to their tables."
National Resources Defense Council, Dana Gunders, “Wasted: How America is Losing up to 40% of its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill,” IP:12-06-B, August 2012, 1, http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-ip.pdf.