How Supermarkets Can Stop Squandering Food & Start Lowering Prices

Forty percent of the food we produce in the United States goes uneaten. No matter how local or organic it is, if nearly half our edible food is ending up in the garbage, we're not doing something right.

Much of this food gets wasted at home, and I recently blogged about simple strategies we can all use to reduce this waste. But about 43 billion pounds of food are thrown away in grocery stores every year–about 10 percent of the total food supply at the retail level. The USDA estimates that supermarkets lose $15 billion each year in unsold produce alone. And because big retailers influence customer behavior on one side (Buy One Get One Free!), and suppliers on the other (demanding requirements that encourage growers to overplant for fear of not fulfilling them), their decisions can drive even more food waste throughout the system.

Industry executives say that wasted food is part of the cost of doing business. Conventional wisdom holds that customers want abundance–shelves and displays overflowing with food. Low waste numbers actually raise a red flag for store managers–if food isn't wasted, that means there's not enough product on the shelves, and the store is actually failing to deliver a satisfactory customer experience.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: NRDC Switchboard