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# GRAPHIC: Americans throw away more food today than ever before
- URL: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/graphic-americans-throw-away-more-food-today-than-ever-before/
- Published: 2020-09-30T21:10:08.000Z
- Updated: 2020-09-30T21:10:08.000Z
- Description: Between 1960 and 2017, the quantity of wasted food increased more than 230 percent, according to EPA data.
- Author: Pramod Acharya, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
- Tags: Agribusiness, Environment, Data Harvest, Environment Protection Agency, EPA, TP::Explainer, food waste, USDA, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-06-18 04:56

Consumers wasted more food in 2017 than ever before, according to a Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting review of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

They wasted about 41 million tons of food this year, making up 15 percent of trash thrown out.

*\[Read more: [Food waste weighing down U.S. food system](https://www.investigatemidwest.org/food-waste-weighing-down-u-s-food-system/)\]*

In 1960, [the](https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials?ref=investigatemidwest.org#Trends1960-Today) [earliest year with the data available](https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials?ref=investigatemidwest.org#Trends1960-Today), American consumers generated 12 million tons of food scraps. Between 1960 and 2017, the quantity of wasted food increased more than 230 percent, according to data gathered from [EPA’s](https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/advancing-sustainable-materials-management?ref=investigatemidwest.org) [annual publications](https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/advancing-sustainable-materials-management?ref=investigatemidwest.org) on municipal solid waste generations.

More than 80 percent of consumer food waste occurs at businesses, such as supermarkets, grocery stores, and restaurants, and homes, [according to ReFED](https://www.investigatemidwest.org/content/files/www-refed-com/downloads/refed%5Freport%5F2016.pdf), an organization working to reduce food waste in the United States that's [funded](https://www.refed.com/?sort=economic-value-per-ton&ref=investigatemidwest.org) by companies such as Kroger and General Mills.

The widespread waste of food at the consumer level is because “consumers \[are\] buying more than they need,” according to [USDA’s](https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/43833/43680%5Feib121.pdf?v=0&ref=investigatemidwest.org) [Economic Research Service](https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/43833/43680%5Feib121.pdf?v=0&ref=investigatemidwest.org). In 2015, USDA and EPA announced a [national Food Loss and Waste reduction goal](https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/united-states-2030-food-loss-and-waste-reduction-goal?ref=investigatemidwest.org#:~:text=The%202030%20FLW%20reduction%20goal%20aims%20to%20reduce%20food%20waste,to%20109.4%20pounds%20per%20person.), aiming to reduce food waste by half by 2030.

However, the EPA data show that the food waste kept growing even after the announcement.

*\[Read more: [Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. But it can also be a part of the solution](https://www.investigatemidwest.org/agriculture-is-one-of-the-biggest-contributors-to-climate-change-but-it-can-also-be-a-part-of-the-solution/).\]*