Food Waste

While “food waste” can be used as an overarching term, for the purposes of this dashboard, we will use the terms below to differentiate what happens at different stages of the food system:

  • Food loss happens during the production, processing, and distribution of food.

  • Food waste happens when food that is fit for consumer consumption is thrown away, whether it is before or after it spoils in its current site (e.g. retail location, consumer’s home, etc.).

Food waste involves three different sectors: retail, hospitality, and home. Retail includes any location that sells goods for consumer consumption (e.g., grocery stores), while hospitality includes accommodations and entertainment of guests (e.g., restaurants, hotels, etc.).

Due to currently available data, this dashboard houses only data on food waste at this time.

Questions to Consider

It can be difficult to capture data related to food waste because of the nature of where and how it happens. Food waste happens at retail stores, restaurants, schools, and neighbors’ homes, making it difficult to accurately measure. While there are some data related to food waste, particularly around the amount of food rescued, there is a huge need to collect data on how much food is actually wasted or lost. Below are some questions to consider related to food waste data:

  • How much food is wasted vs. rescued?

  • Which types of food are most often wasted at the retail and consumer levels?

    • How does this vary by county? Between rural and urban communities?

  • How much food waste is avoidable loss compared to unavoidable loss?

  • How much post-consumer waste is being rescued instead of composted in Central Texas?

    • How does this vary by county? Between rural and urban communities?

  • What are the most impactful interventions to reduce food waste in Central Texas?

Pounds of Food Recovered from Businesses

Central Texas Food Bank collects data on the number of food pounds rescued via donations from commercial organizations. This includes food donations that are not part of food drives. This dashboard shows the amount of food rescued by product type across Central Texas. Each year, the food bank rescues 22-25 million pounds across these counties, preventing that food from going to landfills.

Highlights: Across all counties, produce is the most-rescued product type at 38%.

Filter the data by toggling between years, counties, product types, and food sourcing types using the filters below and at right.

Note: “Other” includes items such as condiments, baby formula, and juice.

Note that only 17 counties are listed because Central Texas Food Bank has not sourced from the remaining four counties in the region since before 2019.

Data Source: Central Texas Food Bank inventory data (January 2019-June 2024)

Refreshed: Annually. Dashboard last refreshed August 2024.

Filter the data by toggling between years, counties, product types, and food sourcing types using the filters below and at right.

Note that only 17 counties are listed because Central Texas Food Bank has not sourced from the remaining four counties in the region since before 2019.

This dashboard shows the amount of food rescued by food sourcing type across Central Texas. Sourcing types are defined as follows:

  • Retail: Sells food and groceries directly to consumers (e.g., supermarkets)

  • Manufacturer: Combines, purifies, processes, or packages food for sale through a wholesale outlet

  • Distributor: Provides food in large quantities to retailers, restaurants, hotels, and others providing food to consumers

  • Agriculture: Grows crops or raises animals to provide food

  • Hospitality: Serves ready-to-eat food directly to consumers (e.g., restaurants)

Highlights: Around 85% of the food rescued across Central Texas comes from retail, indicating that there could be potential to rescue more food from other sources.

Data Source: Central Texas Food Bank inventory data (January 2019-June 2024)

Refreshed: Annually. Dashboard last updated August 2024.

The chart below shows how many food pounds were rescued by month and year across Central Texas. To supplement Central Texas Food Bank data, Keep Austin Fed contributed data about food rescued in Travis County. This chart is not meant to read as a comprehensive representation of food rescue data. Rather, it is a snapshot of what two prominent food rescue organizations (Central Texas Food Bank and Keep Austin Fed) have been able to rescue.

Highlights: Overall, the highest volume of food was rescued in 2020. Food pounds rescued then held relatively steady through 2023 but dropped significantly in 2024, mostly due to a 3-million-pound drop in food rescued from retail.

Filter the data by toggling between years, counties, product types, and food sourcing types using the filters below and at right.

Note that only 18 counties are listed because Central Texas Food Bank has not sourced from the remaining three counties in the region since before 2019.

Data Source: Central Texas Food Bank inventory data (January 2019-September 2024) and Keep Austin Fed (2019-2022)

Refreshed: Annually. Dashboard last updated November 2024.

Food Waste Reports and Articles

In fall 2023, Central Texas Food Bank worked with University of Texas students in Nutrition 355 on a full literature review related to food waste. Read the literature review here.