Spread the Word About Food Waste and Your Work With Us
This resource hub is a first step in creating content to share information about your organization's partnership with ReFED. Below, you’ll find materials about food waste, our work, and the impact you’re helping us have, all in a variety of formats—including infographics, talking points, executive quotes, and more. Please use what you need, and if there’s anything else you’d like, just let us know.
In the toolkit:
All content in this center is current and approved for external use; however, we ask that all final partnership assets, including social posts, emails, in-store signage, etc., be shared with our team for review before publication. We will review and provide any feedback or approval within three business days.
About Food Waste
In 2024, the U.S. let a huge 29% of the 240 million tons in our food supply go unsold or uneaten. We call this "surplus food," and while a very small portion is donated to those in need and more is recycled, the vast majority becomes food waste, which goes straight to landfill, incineration, or down the drain, or is simply left in the fields to rot. Overall, ReFED estimates that 25% of all food in the U.S.—63 million tons—goes to these waste destinations.
That’s almost 114 billion meals’ worth of food that we’re letting go unsold or uneaten each year, roughly 1.3% of U.S. GDP. And the impacts of surplus food and food waste on our climate and environment are enormous, since food that is never eaten still requires resources to grow, harvest, transport, cool, cook or otherwise prepare—even when it ends up being disposed of.
25% of all food in the U.S.—63 million tons—goes to waste destinations.
Around the world, the food waste problem has been recognized as an urgent issue requiring immediate action—the United Nations, U.S. Government, European Parliament, global business coalitions such as the Consumer Goods Forum, and more have all set goals to cut food loss and waste in half by 2025 or 2030. The good news? Food waste is a problem that can be solved—and ReFED is providing the data, insights, and resources to help do it.
Five Key Facts
In 2024, the amount of food going unsold or uneaten in the U.S. dropped to 70 million tons. That decrease translates to five billion meals' worth of food not going to waste, four million metric tons of GHG emissions avoided, and 200 billion gallons of water not being used to produce food we don’t eat.
85% of “surplus food” goes to waste destinations like landfills, incineration, or down the drain—or it's left in fields to rot.
24% of landfill inputs are food waste, making it the number one product entering landfills. There, it decomposes and generates methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in a 20-year time frame.
The amount of surplus food in the U.S. is equivalent to 114 billion meals—enough to feed a third of the U.S. population for a year.
Nearly 4% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from uneaten food—the same amount as driving 54 million cars for a year—making reducing it a top solution for climate change.
Learn more about food waste in “Progress on the Plate: 2026 ReFED U.S. Food Waste Report,” now available for download.
Download ReportAbout ReFED
ReFED is the leading nonprofit working to solve food waste. With our holistic view of the food system and deep sector knowledge, we collaborate with key audiences—including food businesses, funders, solution providers, policymakers, and more—to drive systemwide change and generate large-scale, meaningful impact.
What We Do
ReFED serves as the definitive source for data and economic analysis about food waste and the solutions to fight it. We work closely with businesses, guiding them in turning ambitious goals into tangible results. We connect funders and innovators to help develop and scale the next big food waste solution. And we bring stakeholders from across the food system to the table, through partnerships, affinity networks, events, and more.
Corporate Partner Resources Toolkit
Below, you’ll find usable materials in a variety of formats, including infographics, talking points, executive quotes, and more. Please use what you need, and if there’s anything else you’d like, just let us know.
Impact Statements
This section will guide you in creating messages that help your audience understand the scope of the food waste problem, as well as that describe the impact your brand is helping ReFED achieve.
- [BRAND] and ReFED are working together to help solve food waste.
- [BRAND] and ReFED are working together to help mobilize our food system to waste less food.
- [BRAND] is excited to support ReFED and their work to solve food waste.
- Our support for ReFED is helping to provide research, tools, and more to accelerate food waste reduction across America.
- Our support for ReFED is driving research, innovation, and collaboration across the country to help reduce the 70 million tons of food that go uneaten every year in America.
Executive Quotes
For a quote from ReFED leadership to include in partnership communications, please contact us.
Contact Yoni AuerbachLogos
For a ReFED logo to include in your partnership communications, as well as brand guidelines for proper usage, please reach out.
Contact Yoni AuerbachShareable Infographics
Please use these infographics in social media posts, company newsletters and emails, and other channels. Each set includes a series of images that can be shared separately or as a carousel. Let us know if you'd like us to add your logo to any of them or if you need a different format.
