The Wasted Food Scale
The Art
The Science
New Wasted Food Scale
“…EPA presents the new Wasted Food Scale (see Figure ES-1), ranking wasted food pathways from most to least environmentally preferable, based on LCA and circularity assessment. Pathways are grouped into tiers where EPA determined them to have equivalent performance. The Scale emphasizes the importance of prevention and of diverting food waste from the sewer/wastewater treatment, landfill, and controlled combustion (i.e., incineration) pathways. The Wasted Food Scale replaces EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy. “
In addition to the ranking provided, the EPA draws the following key conclusions in the report’s Executive Summary:
“…Source reduction, donation and upcycling are the most environmentally preferable pathways because they can displace additional food production…
The benefits of pathways beyond source reduction, donation, and upcycling are small relative to the environmental impacts of food production; thus, they can do little to offset the environmental impacts of food production…
Sewer/wastewater treatment (i.e., sending wasted food “down the drain”) and landfilling stand out for their sizeable methane emissions…
All wasted food pathways other than landfill and sewer/wastewater treatment demonstrate beneficial or near neutral global warming potential…
Recycling wasted food into soil amendments offers opportunities to make long-term improvements in soil structure and health and help regenerate ecosystems by recovering nitrogen and carbon and returning them to the soil…
As the U.S. becomes less dependent on fossil fuels for energy, the environmental value of producing energy from wasted food will decrease…”
From Field to Bin: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste Management Pathways, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, EPA/600/R-23/065, October 2023
