With 35% of all food in the U.S. going unsold or uneaten – and most of that ending up as food waste, going straight to landfill, incineration, down the drain, or simply being left in the fields to rot – figuring out a way to reduce it can seem like a daunting task.

But many food waste reduction solutions already exist – and businesses and organizations are figuring out new ways to address the problem every day.

ReFED’s Insights Engine offers an analysis of more than 40 solutions to reduce food waste across all seven key action areas in our Roadmap to 2030. Achieving 100% implementation of these solutions would allow the country to reach its national goal of reducing food waste by 50% by the year 2030.

But even a more modest implementation would have a marked effect on the amount of food going to waste each year – and positively impact a number of key metrics. The Insights Engine’s Solutions Database ranks solutions based on their net financial benefit, tons of food waste diverted, metric tons of greenhouse gases reduced, water saved, meals saved, and jobs created.

Additionally, different solutions will rank more highly for different stakeholder types – for example, manufacturers or grocery retailers. Based on the net financial benefit, here are the top three solutions for food business stakeholders:

Producers

• Imperfect & Surplus Produce Channels
• Buyer Specification Expansion
• Decreased Transit Time

Manufacturers

• Manufacturing Byproduct Utilization (Upcycling)
• Assisted Distressed Sales
• Manufacturing Line Optimization

Retailers

• Enhanced Demand Planning
• Decreased Transit Time
• Intelligent Routing

Foodservice

• Waste Tracking
• Markdown Alert Applications
• Imperfect & Surplus Produce Channels

Explore these solutions and more in the Insights Engine.

Access the Roadmap to 2030 At-A-Glance PDF.