Grocery stores can't always predict demand and so generally buy more food than they can sell. Greenhouse gas emissions tied to distribution were also lower for kits, owing to their streamlined supply chain. It turned out that meal kits had more plastic waste than grocery store meals, but less food waste.

The researchers took these leftovers and estimated how much would eventually be wasted, based on USDA data about consumer habits.įor each meal type, the researchers fed their measurements into a life-cycle analysis - which incorporates existing data on emissions throughout the supply chain - to estimate the total emissions for each stage of the process: agricultural production, packaging production, distribution, supply chain losses (for example: unsold grocery store food), consumption and food waste. But store meals required purchasing food in larger quantities than necessary (think a 12-pack of hamburger buns for a two-person meal). The Salt Grocery Stores Get Mostly Mediocre Scores On Their Food Waste Effortsįor the Blue Apron meals, all food provided was used.

(Losses on the farm and between the farm and retailer were not estimated because of data limitations for some of the food groups.)

is wasted, with 10% occurring at the retail level and 21% at the consumer level. In a study from 2010, the USDA estimated that about 31% of the food produced in the U.S. report, if food waste were a country, its production, processing and distribution would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, just behind the U.S. But to get the whole picture, Heard says you need to consider emissions from fertilizer production, farm equipment and processing operations and how that food gets distributed.Ī substantial chunk of food's carbon footprint is waste, much of which happens during distribution and consumption. A small part of this is producing the plastic that keeps food fresh. The plastic that keeps food fresh certainly contributes to food's carbon footprint. One study estimates it is responsible for 19% to 29% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. What really ends up mattering is the quantity of food wasted throughout the supply chain.'įood production has a huge carbon footprint. candidate at the University of Michigan and first author of the study, says, 'When you zoom out and look at the whole life cycle, packaging is a relatively small contributor to the overall environmental impacts of a meal.

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