per capita

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as much as 40% of the food supply in the United States is wasted. In fact, Americans generate more food waste than all but two countries.

To address this problem, the federal government announced a goal nearly a decade ago to cut food waste in half by 2030 compared to 2016 levels. Doing so would bring food waste down to approximately 164 pounds per person annually.

However, according to a new study led by researchers from the University of California – Davis, since 2016, per capita food waste has actually increased instead of decreasing.

The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Food, looked at how state policies align with federal targets. The research team found that state policies focus more on recycling methods, such as composting and anaerobic digestion, rather than on prevention and rescue strategies, like food donations or repurposing food for animal feed.

In 2021, the EPA revised its definition of food waste to no longer include recycling methods. But when food is wasted, the resources used to grow the food, including energy, water, and fertilizer, are also wasted.

In the study, the researchers analyzed state-level food waste reduction efforts across four areas: prevention, rescue, repurposing, and recycling. They found that recycling policies offered the most potential for diversion. Despite this, most states still fell short of the federal goal of 164 pounds per person annually.

According to the research team, more comprehensive policies to address food waste must be implemented as soon as possible.

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States Struggle to Curb Food Waste Despite Policies

Photo, posted June 28, 2021, courtesy of Ivan Radic via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Over the past 60 years, global forest area has decreased by 315,000 square miles, an area about twice the size of California. Combined with global population growth over that period, this has resulted in more than a 60% decline in global forest area per capita.

The continuous loss as well as degradation of forest affects the integrity of forest ecosystems and reduces their ability to generate and provide essential services and sustain biodiversity. It impacts the lives of at least 1.6 billion people worldwide – primarily in developing countries – who depend upon forests in multiple ways.

According to the new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, forest losses have been occurring primarily in lower-income countries in the tropics while forest gains have occurred in higher-income countries in the mid-latitudes or extratropics.

More than half of the world’s forest losses were in Brazil, home to the Amazon rainforest. In the past 60 years, that country has had a net loss of 170,000 square miles of forest. While most high-income countries had net forest gains, Canada actually had a net loss of about 11,000 square miles of forest.

Economic growth has a stronger association with net forest gain than with net forest loss. Therefore, the study highlights the need to strengthen the support given to lower income countries, especially in the tropics, to help improve their capacity to minimize or curtail their forest losses. To help address this ongoing displacement of forest losses to lower income countries, higher-income nations need to reduce their dependence on imported tropic forest products.

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New study finds global forest area per capita has decreased by over 60%

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Curbing food waste

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as much as 40% of the food supply in the United States is wasted. In fact, Americans generate more food waste than all but two countries.

Web Links

Decreasing Forest Area Per Capita | Earth Wise

Over the past 60 years, global forest area has decreased by 315,000 square miles, an area about twice the size of California. Combined with global population growth over that period, this has resulted in more than a 60% decline in global forest area per capita.

Web Links