With 37 million people across America — including 11 million children — suffering from food insecurity, why do Americans waste so much of their food abundance? Getting to the bottom of what causes food waste in America is a challenge that traverses the complex landscapes of socioeconomic disparities, confusion, and ingrained beliefs, layered with human behaviors and habits. [4] According to The National Resource Defense Council, if we were able to rescue just 15% of the food we waste, we’d save enough to feed 25 million Americans each year. ReFed believes that by implementing food recovery solutions, we could provide 1.8 billion meals to people who are in need. [3] Shareyourmeal is a platform aiming to reduce food waste by allowing neighbours to post their spare meals online and share them with each other. The platform has quickly spread to the US and other European countries. About 45,000 cooks and customers are enrolled in Shareyourmeal, which has seen more than 73,000 meals change hands since it started in March 2012. [1]

1. https://www.socialtech.org.uk/projects/share-your-meal/

2. https://www.rescuingleftovercuisine.org/challenge?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIktav7L_z6gIVEhvnCh11VgsCEAAYASAAEgKpXPD_BwE

3. https://moveforhunger.org/food-waste#:~:text=The%20Humanitarian%20Cost,-What%20does%20it&text=According%20to%20The%20National%20Resource,people%20who%20are%20in%20need.

4. https://www.rts.com/resources/guides/food-waste-america/#:~:text=The%20facts%3A%20How%20much%20food%20is%20wasted%20in%20America&text=That's%2080%20billion%20pounds%20of,up%20space%20inside%20US%20landfills.

Sierra Briscoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierrabriscoe/