Food is the main focus of Thanksgiving. Roasted turkey. Stuffed squash. Rustic bread. Deep fried turkey. Stuffing. Green bean casserole. Cranberry sauce. Potatoes drenched with gravy. This particular combination of foods are rarely eaten outside of the American holiday.
We love the food we eat on this holiday, but somehow, we end up wasting 302 million pounds of it each year, according to ReFed, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending food loss and waste. Food waste is already a problem, and in the United States, 30–40% of all food produced goes to waste. And during the holidays, there is a 25% increase in food waste.
Food going to the landfill while there are food insecure people in this country is heartbreaking. On top of this, it is environmentally bad. The EPA calculates that 24% of all municipal waste that ends up in landfills is food, and food waste is the third largest source of human-related methane in the United States.