New ReFed report finds that 20% of the top food businesses have set specific, time-bound food waste reduction goals

Food waste remains a pressing issue for the foodservice industry, as a significant contributor to carbon emissions and as wasted food leads to financial loss for foodservice players. Also, reducing your operation’s food waste is a valuable effort to improve the environmental impact of the food served. According to a recent report by food waste solutions company ReFed, the industry has made significant progress on reducing waste, with more businesses reporting on food waste, improving partnerships with suppliers and investing in front-line employee training and recycling. The research found that 20% of the top 65 food businesses across foodservice, retail and manufacturing sectors have set specific time-bound food waste reduction targets. However, at the same time, the lost value of surplus food from producers and food businesses in 2023 was $108 billion.

Here’s a look at the ReFed report, titled “From Surplus to Solutions,” covering areas of improvement and the progress and work that has been made throughout the industry.

More food businesses are establishing and working toward food waste reduction goals

There has been significant progress when it comes to investment in food waste solutions funding, as of late. The report indicated that in 2024, over $300 million of federal funding was invested into food waste reduction, while $650 million was contributed by private funders. In addition, 12 states now have organic waste bans or restrictions with 18 food waste related bills passed in 2024.

There have been milestones for food businesses as well. In 2024, foodservice management company ISS Guckenheimer achieved a 64% reduction in food waste, compared to their 2022 baseline, making history as the first major U.S. foodservice provider to cut its food waste in half. In addition to more businesses reporting and measuring their work in this avenue, more businesses are also joining initiatives like the U.S. Food Waste Pact, an effort led by ReFed and the World Wildlife Fund that encourages and assists food businesses in establishing and reaching food waste reduction goals.

Another trend that the ReFed report spotlighted is food businesses using technology to achieve their goals.

New Legislative policy has also led to progress, with both state and federal bills establishing restrictions and guidelines for managing food waste. California, for instance, passed a first-of-its-kind date label legislation, which mandates a standardized label system with two labels, one for safety and another for quality. This was in an effort to address consumer confusion as to when it is best to toss food.

There also seems to be more media and research investment into food waste. ReFed said that there were 179K media articles published about food waste in 2024, and online searches for food waste increased 9% from January 2023 to December 2024.  

Produce is the most wasted food type with trimming and byproducts causing the most waste

The climate and financial impact of wasted food is clear. ReFed found that in 2023, there was 230 million total greenhouse gas emissions from surplus food in 2023, and $382 billion was the total value of surplus food in the U.S. in 2023.

The biggest contributor to this surplus food is from consumers, with 35.2% of waste from residential sources. Foodservice sits around 17.2%, which is significantly less than the residential rate but much higher than retail waste which was found to be 6%. Much of this waste is due to trimming and byproducts, with 30.4% of food wasted due to that reason. Excess food was also another contributor with 23.6% of wasted food due to that. Produce is waste the most impactful, making up 43.7% of wasted food, with prepared foods as the next biggest contributor at 20.2%.

Food insecurity is also on the rise, with 47 million Americans facing this challenge in 2023, and while 1.75 million tons of surplus food were donated in 2023, ReFed said that only 12% of donatable surplus food was actually donated. But there has been some progress, with donations increasing over 5% in both 2023 and 2024.

Focusing on recovery and prevention to create more effective change

ReFed has indicated a number of solutions that would make significant improvement on the climate crisis. The company estimates that fully implementing its 45 solutions would lead to 20 million tons of food diverted from the landfill and save the industry $60.8 billion. Recovery and prevention are key aspects of the organization’s strategies. ReFed also found that while recycling solutions are effective in addressing large volumes of unavoidable waste, there isn’t much of a financial benefit from recycling programs alone.

“This analysis illustrates that striking a balanced systems approach that supports both prevention and rescue along with scalable recycling measures is key to achieving the greatest overall impact in reducing food waste,” the report stated.

 The research estimated that prevention and recovery solutions may address 64% of all food waste and lead to economic benefits.

Technology is a key to food waste strategies, with ReFed noting that AI can be helpful in data-driven decision making. In addition, integrating new technology into existing workflows in a frictionless way can be helpful for the most impact of such efforts.

Looking into the next year, ReFed said that administration changes will have an impact on the food system, for instance immigration legislation could negatively impact the food industry and create labor shortages. But, with higher food prices, reducing food waste may be more appealing to food businesses.

Despite the challenges in the space, ReFed remains optimistic about the future of food waste and is continuing to work on establishing best practices and solutions to further address the issue.