--- title: Food Waste: Americans Toss $640 Worth Each Year description: Environmental impacts of food waste aren't a great concern, a new survey shows canonical: https://time.com/3933554/food-waste/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-24T12:22:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:17.550Z article:section: Science og:title: Americans Throw Away $640 Worth of Food Each Year og:description: Environmental impacts of food waste aren't a great concern, a new survey shows og:url: https://time.com/3933554/food-waste/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20a5062cc284ecef/698858203c163921ca458891/food-waste.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Food waste og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Throw Away $640 Worth of Food Each Year twitter:description: Environmental impacts of food waste aren't a great concern, a new survey shows twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20a5062cc284ecef/698858203c163921ca458891/food-waste.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Americans Throw Away $640 Worth of Food Each Year ## Video: Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids [Watch (HLS stream): Inside the World of Medical Marijuana for Kids](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/6Ic4KUCK.m3u8) (16:16)  _Published 2014-10-21. The story of a family's illegal cross-country drive to transport marijuana oil for their epileptic 3-year-old daughter. A look inside the quasi-legal, science free world of medical marijuana for children from TIME's Red Border Films_  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 24, 2015 12:22 PM UTC  Out of date rotting food in dustbin Out of date rotting food in dustbinGetty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Jun 24, 2015 12:22 PM UTC Americans toss $640 worth of food each year, according to a survey [released Wednesday](http://www.americanchemistry.com/Media/PressReleasesTranscripts/ACC-news-releases/New-Survey-Americans-Concerned-About-Nations-Wasted-Food.html). Though more than half of Americans say they reuse leftovers for new meals, 76% of the 1,000 adults surveyed say they throw away leftovers at least once a month; 53% say they do so once a week, the American Chemistry Council found. All that wasted food makes Americans unhappy, but for different reasons. An overwhelming majority (79%) say they’re bothered by the wasted money spent on thrown-out food, 45% say they’re bothered because other people in the world are hungry and 15% say they’re concerned about the environment. The EPA says food waste makes up 20% of landfill content and releases the greenhouse gas methane as it rots. “For years we’ve been told to finish your plate, there are hungry people,” Steve Russell, vice president of plastics at ACC, [told _USA Today_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/06/24/americans-annual-food-waste/28988971/). “I just don’t think we’ve done a good enough job yet talking about the environmental impacts of food waste.” ### Around the World of Food With Nine Photographers  "Ooooops chocolate" Martin Parr—Magnum  Onam Festival. Trikkakra, 2014. Alex Webb—Magnum  Boat Under Construction, Mediterranean sea. Ferdinando Scianna—Magnum  Off the shore of Malekula. Vanuatu, 2014. Alessandra Sanguinetti—Magnum  Beer Bread. Joel Meyerowitz  Coffee plantations in El Salvador. Sebastião Salgado—Amazonas Images for illy  Tekenket, Mauritania. George Steinmetz—Contrasto  Rice landscape. Gianni Berengo Gardin—Contrasto  Peach Tree, Lombardy, Italy 2014. 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