Some local grocers and national retailers are taking a harder look at what\u2019s in their trash\u00a0to increase the bottom line by diverting food from landfills and to those most needing it. Wegmans Food Markets joined an effort late last year with several businesses and the\u00a0Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture to cut food waste in half by 2030.<\/p>\n
“Food waste has taken a front and center stage because, quite frankly, it’s the largest amount of what we are finding in our trash these days,”\u00a0said Jason Wadsworth, a manager of sustainability at\u00a0Wegmans. “It’s also how we can make the most significant change,\u00a0not only for what’s ending up in landfills but for our communities.”<\/p>\n
He declined to disclose how much Wegmans spends on hauling food waste, but said finding ways to keep items out of the landfill would reduce overhead costs for the Gates-based grocer. “If we reduce waste, Wegmans doesn’t have to pay to send it to a landfill \u2014\u00a0that is as simple as I can make it,”\u00a0Wadsworth said.<\/p>\n
In 2010, roughly 30 percent, or about 133 billion pounds, of all food in the United States went uneaten, according to estimates from the Department of Agriculture. The typical family of four spent an average of roughly $1,500 on food they just throw out. Some have put those numbers even higher.<\/p>\n
“Consumers don\u2019t even realize how much food is wasted,”\u00a0said Callie Babbit,\u00a0an associate professor of sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology. “We walk into a grocery store and we see these vast aisles of food and it seems like it’s a readily available resource.”<\/p>\n