New report shows New Jersey households lose $2,138 in food waste each year

NEW JERSEY – Food waste continues to be a significant concern in the United States, presenting both financial and environmental challenges.

According to government estimates, between 30% and 40% of the nation’s food supply is wasted annually, translating to millions of tons—and billions of dollars—lost. While sectors like food service and farms each generate over 10 million tons of food waste annually, U.S. households are the largest contributors, producing more than 42 million tons of food waste each year. This not only contributes to air pollution, soil and water degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions, but also impacts household budgets.

Researchers from Trace One calculated the annual money lost to food waste per household, then ranked states accordingly.

These are the main takeaways from the report, highlighting some key stats for New Jersey:

• On average, U.S. households lose more than $2,000 per year to food waste, while individuals lose an average of $792—the equivalent of 214 meals.
• Overwhelmingly, the primary cause of food waste in the residential sector is spoilage, accounting for $69.8 billion of waste each year. Other potential food safety issues like leaving food out too long or food mistakenly being considered inedible also rank highly as causes of waste.
• Prepared foods ($70.9 billion), dry goods ($49.5 billion), and produce ($42.8 billion) are the types of foods with the most money lost to waste each year by U.S. households.
• Individuals in New Jersey lose an average of $812 to food waste each year. This equates to about 207 meals annually.
• On average, New Jersey households lose $2,138 to food waste each year.

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