Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics

In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture jointly announced an ambitious national goal to reduce food loss and waste by 50% by 2030. In 2021, EPA directly aligned the food waste part of the goal with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 12.3: “by 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.” Recycling food and other organic waste (e.g., composting, creating other beneficial byproducts) will also drive progress toward EPA’s nationwide goal of a 50% recycling rate by 2030 and support the USDA Climate Smart Agriculture and Forestry Strategy. Achieving these complementary goals supports the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which identified reducing food waste in landfills as an Administration action to reduce methane emissions. Lastly, food waste is responsible for 58% of landfill methane emissions released to the atmosphere, so diverting food waste from landfills is an effective strategy to reduce harmful landfill emissions, including methane. Through this Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics, the Biden-Harris Administration identifies concrete steps—and complementary EPA, USDA, and Food and Drug Administration actions—that will accelerate the prevention of food loss and waste, where possible, and the recycling of the remainder with other organic waste, across the entire supply chain. To build a more circular economy for all, EPA, USDA and FDA seek to highlight opportunities to use raw materials more efficiently, enable those resources to be used for their highest value, and recover valuable resources from discarded materials.