U.S. food waste drops slightly, but donation gap remains huge

A Simple Gesture’s route planners and pantry partners are working in the gap between abundant surplus food and the thin share that actually gets donated. ReFED’s 2026 U.S. Food Waste Report, published April 7, says the United States generated 70 million tons of surplus food in 2024, about 29% of the food supply, even after a 2.2% decline from 2023, the first meaningful year-to-year drop since a pandemic-related dip.

The scale is still staggering. ReFED estimates surplus food carried a $380 billion value, while consumers spent an average of $762 per person on food that went to waste. The emissions tied to that excess were equivalent to 51 million cars driven for a year. For food recovery groups, the sharpest number is the one that points to execution failure: just under 13% of food that could have been donated actually was.

That gap makes logistics the real battleground. ReFED’s president, Dana Gunders, called the decline evidence that progress is possible, saying, “the wind is at our backs, and it’s time to step on the gas.” For nonprofits that collect food from neighborhoods and businesses, the way forward is not abstract. It means tighter pickup schedules, faster sorting, better storage, and cleaner handoffs to the pantries that can move food before it spoils. In practice, that is where A Simple Gesture’s model fits, with optimized pickup routes based on drivers’ home addresses and a volunteer network that has to be recruited, trained, and retained if the system is going to stay reliable.

Federal agencies have been pushing the same problem for years. USDA and EPA announced a national goal on September 16, 2015, to cut U.S. food loss and waste in half by 2030, and the agencies have since tied the effort to food security, cost savings, methane reduction, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3. USDA and FDA also said in December 2024 that confusion over date labels accounts for about 20% of food waste in the home, a reminder that recovery groups keep seeing food discarded before it is actually unsafe.

The need on the other side of the equation remains massive. Feeding America says 48 million people in the United States face food insecurity, and nearly 20% of children nationally experience it. A Simple Gesture says a $1 donation converts to more than $30 of food for food banks and pantries, and its Guilford County chapter has been operating since 2015 through neighborhood collection programs and partnerships with local pantries. The report’s message is plain for food recovery staff: the food exists, but turning it into meals still depends on whether the routes, volunteers, and pantry links hold together.