Food waste: Americans throw away $1,600 a year on average

Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal discusses how food waste affects everyone, strategies to avoid discarding food, and how Hellman's is pushing to reduce the amount of food thrown away.

Video transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, the average American family loses $1,600 every year from discarding food. Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal joins us to explain why it pays to see the inside of your fridge. A bit of a sharp turn there. But let's talk about the food waste because this is something that affects people on so many different levels.

ALLIE CANAL: It affects everyone, Akiko. And it's something that really struck me. I've noticed even at the weddings I've been at, the amount of food. And I just know at the end of the day, it's all going to get thrown away. So it's something that I've been thinking about. Businesses are really thinking about it right now. There's a real corporate social responsibility push to try and make the world a better place, make it more eco-friendly.

And there's one brand that's doing this in particular, Hellmann's Mayo. They actually have a new campaign out called See More in Your Fridge. They posted a big billboard on Times Square, they posted on Instagram some of the most common food items that are wasted like your fruits, your veggies, your bread. And hidden within the fridge they had a call to action saying if you DM us, we'll give you $1,600 which is the average price that Americans use yearly 4 million impressions, not one person DM'd the brand.

So it was this larger story about how you're not really looking at everything in your fridge right now. You're not being the most creative with the items that you have. 40% of US food goes uneaten and you reported on this extensively, when it comes to climate change, there's a ripple effect there. Food waste contributes to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If food waste was a country, it'd be right behind China and the US when it comes to the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

So this is a story and a conversation that I think is continuing right now. And I think people really need to talk more about it. I don't think we discuss it enough. And even in the social circles that I'm in, like weddings or big parties or events, if you think about it more, you'll notice it more.

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, and you figure that food shortage has only been exacerbated by what's been playing out in Russia and Ukraine because of how much food is exported out of those countries. I know that I always compost. I mean, that's kind of one of the biggest things for me is that when you don't have-- if you don't eat all your food in time, at least you can put it to another use. I mean, what are some other things that you think people need to consider?

ALLIE CANAL: Composting is a big one, just practicing shopping habits.

AKIKO FUJITA: Don't overbuy.

ALLIE CANAL: Don't overbuy. That's the biggest thing. Learning how to store things properly I think is a big one too. Meal prepping, that's something I could be better at as well. But there are things that we could do, easy things that we could do to start now to help alleviate the problem.

The United Nations has a sustainable development goal to reduce food waste by 50% by the year 2030. Hellmann's is a brand that's working with them to try and do that. They're also working with Harvard to try and regulate date labeling. That's one of the biggest causes of food waste. So there's a federal and legislative push as well. So we'll see what happens. But as you were saying, this is an issue that's impacting everyone around the globe.

AKIKO FUJITA: I always try to make it a habit to only buy a few days' worth.

ALLIE CANAL: Me too.

AKIKO FUJITA: Right. But that's only because we have grocery stores nearby, accessibility is a whole other--

ALLIE CANAL: Especially the veggies and stuff.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah.

ALLIE CANAL: That's always an easy one that you can overbuy and then you're like a week later you're like, ah, I spent so much money, and it's wasteful.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah. Well, and also worth noting. It's easier said than done in the city, where it's much more accessible, but an important story. Allie, thanks so much for that.