Food waste in the U.S. causes more carbon emissions than it’s biggest airline industry

More than a third of all food grown in the United States never meets anyone’s mouth. Unsold and uneaten, this food waste goes straight to landfill, incineration, or down the drain. Or else, it simply remains in the agricultural fields—to rot.

The nonprofit ReFED calculates the wastage as $408 billion worth of food, grown on 18 percent of U.S. farmland—with 4 trillion tons of water.

Note that the carbon footprint of U.S. food waste is greater than that of its huge airline industry. And globally, wasted food accounts for about 8 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.