Here’s How to Curb Thanksgiving Food Waste and an Update on Policies to Tackle Waste Year-Round

The holidays are coming, and for most of us that means extra time for family, friends, and food. Lots of food. Then comes the aftermath: tonnages of grub that flow into garbage cans and ultimately on to landfills.

Emily Broad Leib, founding director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, has some insight on impacts of holiday food waste and how to curb it this time of year and year-round.

Broad Lieb updates us on policy work aiming to turn would-be-food waste into assets and pay back to businesses who chose to do so. She  highlights work in the U.K. that saw a 250:1 return on investment in terms of reduced waste.

Waste360: Why is it so important to pay attention to food waste especially around the fall and winter holidays?

Broad Leib: Food waste is a significant problem year-round, but it's particularly concerning during the holidays. ReFED estimates that 316 million pounds of food ($556 million worth of groceries) will be wasted this Thanksgiving; this is about 1.3 percent higher than 2023, due to population growth.

Year round we waste an estimated 38 percent of our food supply. Food waste is a major contributor to environmental harm. Not only do we waste water, land, and natural resources on producing food that we then throw away, but food rotting in landfills is also a huge concern for climate. It emits methane, which is 80 times more potent than CO2 in a 20-year period. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 58 percent of methane emissions from landfills comes from food waste.

Food waste also is an economic drain. ReFED estimates that its annual economic toll is $495 billion.  More than 40 percent of this waste comes from households, which is particularly concerning at a time when many struggle with food costs and inflation.

Waste360: What is your best advice for grocers on how to reduce food waste around the holidays? What benefits will they reap?

Broad Leib: While there are opportunities to reduce food waste at all levels of the supply chain, one area where there is the most opportunity – especially around holidays – is from grocers. Here are some ideas:

Grocers can see many benefits. They can improve brand reputation and customer loyalty by helping people reduce their household food costs by shopping smarter and using more of their food.

Donating surplus food can have economic benefits, including reducing waste disposal costs and bringing tax benefits, as there is a robust federal enhanced tax deduction available for food donations. A growing number of businesses are making climate commitments or reporting on their scope 3 emissions. Donating food and reducing their waste can help meet climate goals or improve reporting outcomes.

Waste360: We can all waste less around the holidays if we are more focused on reducing it year-round. What are updates on actions the U.S. is taking to reduce food waste?

Broad Leib: This year, the White House published a National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics that was the culmination of months of work. This is a roadmap of actions the federal government commits to in order to reduce food waste in the coming years.

The U.S. EPA also has an open call for proposals to implement a national food waste awareness campaign. This is an exciting update, as a similar campaign in the U.K. saw a 250:1 return on investment in terms of reduced waste, particularly from households.

And we continue to see government action at the state and local level. We track state policies in food waste, and in 2023, 91 unique state bills on food waste were introduced, and 23 were enacted.

Most exciting to me is a new law in California to standardize date labels. Nearly 85 percent of consumers throw away food when it passes the date, and date labels cause more than 20 percent of household food waste. California’s Assembly Bill 660 requires food to bear just one of two labels: “Best if used (or frozen) by” will indicate peak food quality, and “Use (or freeze) by” will indicate food that can increase in safety risk past the date. This new legislation builds on California’s landmark legislation SB 1383 that reduces food waste going to landfills, including by requiring many food businesses to donate all of their surplus edible food to those in need.

Waste360: What are unique practices in countries beyond the U.S.?

Broad Leib: Over the past few years, we have led a project to analyze and share food waste and food donation policies around the world via the Global Food Donation Policy Atlas project, which is a collaboration with the Global FoodBanking Network. 

Several countries have implemented innovative model policies and practices: