Biden-Harris Administration Announces National Strategy to Reduce Food Loss and Waste and Recycle Organics  

Joint efforts will reduce waste, increase recycling of organics, reduce climate pollution, save families and businesses money, and support a circular economy for all 

June 12, 2024

WASHINGTON – Today, June 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, announced the “National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics” as part of President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to tackle climate change, feed people, address environmental justice, and promote a circular economy.

The strategy released today provides tangible goals that the U.S. government partners along with retailers and consumers can work toward to help further prevent the loss and waste of food, increase recycling of food and other organic materials to support a more circular economy for all, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save households and businesses money, and build cleaner, healthier communities. This strategy is also a deliverable in the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, released in conjunction with the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022.  

“Each year, too much food produced in the United States ends up in landfills instead of on dining room tables. This hurts our economy by raising the cost of food and contributing to climate pollution,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The National Strategy we are announcing today provides a comprehensive set of actions that the Biden-Harris Administration will take to reduce waste and protect our environment while improving food security and saving money for families and businesses.” 

“USDA is committed to reducing food loss and waste, facilitating many programs and activities to assist farmers, producers, communities and businesses,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This National Strategy charts a course to reduce our nation's food loss and waste by 50% by 2030, and I am proud of the actions outlined for USDA and our Federal partners. Everyone has a role to play in reducing food loss and waste, and I hope that these federal commitments will inspire and catalyze action in the private sector and communities around the US.” 

“The FDA is committed to completing the actions outlined in the National Strategy that incentivize and encourage food loss and waste prevention and organics recycling,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “Along with the FDA, USDA and EPA efforts, U.S. consumers and retailers play an important role in meeting the National Strategy’s goal of reducing food loss and waste by 2030. As part of the release of this Strategy, the FDA has made important resources available to guide, support, and accelerate their food loss and waste activities including the 2022 Food Code, Tips to Reduce Food Waste and the Food Loss and Waste Social Media Toolkit. We encourage all stakeholders to take advantage of these resources as we work together to reduce food loss and waste.”

Recent EPA research shows that 58% of methane emissions released to the atmosphere from landfills are from food waste. Each year in the U.S., food loss and waste create potent greenhouse gas pollutants equal to the emissions of 60 coal-fired power plants. The strategy aims to prevent and divert organic waste from landfills to reduce GHG emissions and highlights opportunities, especially where there are environmental justice concerns, to build community-scale organics recycling infrastructure, reduce pollution and create jobs.  

The strategy drives progress toward the National Food Loss and Waste Reduction Goal to reduce the loss and waste of food by 50% by 2030. In 2021, EPA updated its U.S. baseline to align the 2030 goal with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3, which aims to reduce the amount of food from food retail, food service, and households that has been removed from the human supply chain. In addition, this goal supports the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan. Because methane is both a powerful GHG and short-lived compared to carbon dioxide, achieving significant reductions to food loss and waste would have a rapid and significant effect on reducing GHG emissions. 

The strategy highlights four objectives: 

Objective 1: Prevent food loss.

Objective 2: Prevent food waste. 

Objective 3: Increase the recycling rate for all organic waste.  

Objective 4: Support policies that incentivize and encourage the prevention of food loss and waste and organics recycling.

For each objective, the strategy highlights actions that EPA, FDA, or USDA could take. Examples of specific EPA actions include:

• Develop and lead a national consumer education and behavior change campaign. 
• Test innovative approaches to reducing food waste across the supply chain. 
• Support the development of additional organics recycling infrastructure through grants and other assistance for all communities, and especially those that are underserved. 
• Expand the market for products made from recycled organic waste. 

Access the final strategy. 

Background  

• In the U.S., more than one-third (nearly 100 million tons per year) of the municipal waste stream is organic waste, of which food is the majority. Wasting food impacts the climate, releases air pollutants, contributes to water scarcity and biodiversity loss, and degrades soil and water quality.  
• One-third of all available food goes uneaten. (USDA) 
• 24% of municipal solid waste in landfills is food waste. (EPA) 
• Globally, food loss and waste represent 8% of anthropogenic GHG emissions (4.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually). (United Nations) 
• 58% of methane emissions released to the atmosphere from municipal solid waste landfills is from food waste. (EPA) 
• In the U.S., the average family of four spends $1,500 each year on food that ends up uneaten. (USDA) 

In addition to the release of this national strategy, EPA is funding projects announced at the end of 2023 for nearly $200 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding through the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling program, as well as Recycling Education and Outreach grants, which is the largest federal investment in recycling in 30 years. Both of these programs advance the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. Over $83 million of the new funding will support 72 projects that include organics recycling, composting, or anaerobic digestion. The activities outlined in these projects are critical in mitigating the effects of climate change. 

Learn more about:

• Sustainable management of food.
• Food: material specific data. 
• EPA’s work to promote a circular economy. 
• USDA’s work about food loss and waste.
• FDA’s work about food loss and waste. 
• Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Transforming U.S. Recycling and Waste Management.
• White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.