You know, I reflected on this, and if you add up the whole food supply chain, people driving to grocery stores, overproduction, refrigeration, etc. then wasted food starts to look like a bigger problem than I initially give it credit for.

Thanks. I was going to reply, I concede that reducing meat consumption is probably a help too, but I wouldn't endorse "vegetarianism for all."

Gonna need a source on this before I believe it. I'm skeptical food waste plays a major role in GHG emissions.

Last I checked, burning fossil fuels and making plastic accounted for the vast majority of harmful emissions.

Although the output of GHG in terms of grams is only 7% of US total, for food waste those grams would predominantly be methane and nitrous oxide, which have much higher warming potentials.

Ceasing the burning of fossil fuels would be significant. But stopping organic matter from decomposing in a landfill would also be significant — and it’s currently feasible and scalable.

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.compostingcouncil.org/resource/res...

Thanks for the info and source!

Food is produced primarily with fossil fuels.

> The American food supply is driven almost entirely by non-renewable energy sources and accounts for approximately 19% of the total use of fossil fuels in the United States.

https://sustainability.emory.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/...

Buying local and eating less meat is social signalling. Wasting less food is making personal sacrifices for the environment.

Your own source doesn't agree. On page 3 it says:

"What you can do: - Buy foods grown locally - Avoid purchasing processed foods - Cut back on meat"

I understand that GHGs are emitted in producing, shipping, refrigerating, and disposing of the wasted food. I am 100% for reducing waste, but we have bigger fish to fry than biodegradable food waste.

I'm not sure the food waste is referring to solid waste, but the emissions produced (fuel and electrcity) in producing/shipping/storing/delivering food that is not actually used.

How much "food waste" is done by individuals instead of corporations?

Plenty. Uneaten leftovers, rotten food...

Right, I was looking for an actual statistical answer based on data. Obviously there are instances of individual food waste, my point is that maybe we can make a much larger impact by focusing on food waste at corporations and restaurants.

That is very much true. In Germany, for example, people waste about 55 kg of food per year. If you are able to cut that in half and let's say that 1 kg of food produces around 0.7 kg of CO2 (average), you will be able to reduce 15 kg of CO2 per month. We have more information in the app if you are interested.