Wren | Actions

[Topic

Food](https://www.wren.co/actions?topics=categoryfood) [Topic

Waste](https://www.wren.co/actions?topics=categorywaste)

Impact

Huge impact

Cost

Saves money

time

Long-term

40% of resources used in food production—including water, land use, animal feed, fertilizer, and labor—go to waste with uneaten food. Food waste also produces 6% of global emissions, at least three times greater than aviation.

Unfortunately, the largest culprits of food waste are well-intentioned individuals, with households accounting for 61% of food waste. 26% was tossed by food services, and 13% was lost at the retail level.

Upstream, food waste can be caused by labor shortages, buyer standards, and high prices. Downstream, individuals can be guilty of overbuying, overcooking, and throwing away food out of excess caution.

Project Drawdown has ranked reducing food waste as one of the highest-impact climate actions for households and individuals:

The food recovery hierarchy from the United States Environmental Protection Agency presents a path to preventing and redirecting food waste: buy the right amount, don’t throw away edible food, share what you don’t eat, and compost.

EPA food recovery hierarchy

Explore guide actions

Check out the actions for the Reduce food waste at home guide below:

Plan to prevent food waste

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Affordable

Small impact

Moderate

136 completed

Learn food preservation techniques

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Affordable

Small impact

Moderate

69 completed

Make the most of your leftovers

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Affordable

Small impact

Moderate

147 completed

Optimize food storage

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Affordable

Medium impact

Long-term

1,815 completed

Compost your food scraps

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197 completed

Read article: 20 Ways to Reduce Food Waste

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