Food waste is an enormous problem in the US: America wastes roughly 40 percent of its food, which leads to pollution and other environmental damage, and is a waste of natural resources and a waste of money. While edible food is lost at every point along the food chain — on farms and fishing boats, during processing and distribution, in retail stores, in restaurants and more — as consumers, we are responsible for the largest percentage of all food waste. Approximately 40 to 50 percent of food waste in the US happens at the consumer level, and a typical US consumer wastes 238 pounds of food per year (21 percent of the food they buy), costing them $1,800 per year.