At one time or another, we have all thrown away food. Maybe you purchased too many eggs from the grocery store and they have reached their expiration date or maybe you have simply forgotten about that loaf of bread in the back of the pantry. But, did you know that nearly 40% of the food in the United States is never eaten? In fact, Americans wasted 33.79 million tons of food in 2010 alone. That is enough to fill the Empire State Building 91 times!
If the United States were to waste 5% less food, that amount could feed 4 million Americans. If Americans wasted 15% less, it would be enough to feed 25 million people on an annual basis. So, in a time when there thousands of starving human beings and a planet suffering from unnecessary waste, it is of paramount importance that we take the time to reconsider our food consumption habits.
The following infographic looks at this in more detail.
[Click image for full size version]