A half-chewed chimichanga here, a cold pizza in the trash there, or a pile of rotten brown bananas: it all adds up.
Each year, Arizona trashed $9.5 billion worth of food across the state or 1.7 million tons, as the nation’s No. 1 for sending food to landfill.
North Dakota was No. 2 on the list with $1 billion in food waste and Hawaii was No. 3 with $1.6 billion. There were more factors than the total value of food wasted for ranking, such as the share of food donated or recycled.
More than 78% of food was thrown away while 18% of food is recycled and 2.7% donated, according to a study compiled by LawnStarter, an online landscaping matchmaking company that dabbles in the economy .
Arizona has the highest share of food wasted and the lowest share recycled across the country. He was in the bottom three nationwide for food donations. LawnStarter compiled data from the nonprofit Food Rescue US, a mobile app that sends food to the needy, food waste analysis organization ReFED, advocacy group US Composting Council and the US Environmental Protection Agency ‘environment.
“There seems to be a little less awareness in Arizona. It’s residential, in restaurants, and in fields,” LawnStarter spokesman Jeff Herman said.
The coronavirus pandemic and related restaurant closings have led to an increase in rotten food in agriculture, Herman said. Nationwide, about 40% of food is thrown away on average.
“When you go to a restaurant and you get takeout and then throw it away, that’s wasteful,” he said. “You can reuse it.”
In a study of its residential waste, the city of Phoenix found that 14.7% of its waste was food, or more than 56,400 tons. About 30% of Phoenix’s waste was compostable yard waste.
Countywide, about 30 percent of residential trash is already food and yard scraps, according to an estimate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In 2017, the city opened a composting facility along 27th Avenue that can process 55,000 tons of compost each year.
California-based biofuel maker Imperial Western Products is diverting 1.23 million tons of food waste from landfills in Arizona, such as used cooking oil from restaurants, which is turned into biodiesel.
Food waste increases during the holidays when bellies are full and plates are overflowing with leftovers. About 200 million pounds of turkey – the equivalent of 13.3 million medium-sized birds — are ransacked after Thanksgiving, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
There are efforts to reduce food waste in Phoenix, like Arizona State University’s zero-waste program, which has set a goal of diverting 90 percent of its dining hall waste from landfills. The university already recycles its fryer oil for biodiesel and donates leftover food to Arizonans for Children. This food goes to foster children.
Waste Not is a Scottsdale non-profit organization that connects its network of drivers to catering companies, resorts and event venues. It delivers same-day food using nonprofit organizations that serve food to residents. Waste Not diverted 2 million pounds of food from landfills last year.
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