The role of US policy in advancing circular economy solutions for wasted food

Food waste is a growing global sustainability challenge. The United States plays a major role in food waste generation and yet has seen limited progress toward significantly reducing the amount of food ultimately being landfilled. Circular economy offers a compelling alternative to the current linear management of food and food waste, but the U.S. also lacks comprehensive public policy that would enable circular economy in the food system. This article provides a systemic analysis of U.S. federal and state policy to identify whether current regulations and initiatives are helping or hindering circular food waste management. One key finding is that the U.S. has ambitious national goals and initiatives aimed at reducing and recovering wasted food, but these efforts are voluntary and lack enforcement mechanisms. Individual states have enacted a wide array of policies expected to both directly and indirectly influence wasted food generation and management, including highly variable requirements for food date labeling and using excess food as animal feed. The majority of U.S. states have policies in place that would support donation of excess food for human use, and a few actually mandate wasted food management through landfill bans or diversion targets. However, the heterogeneity inherent to the observed patchwork of state policies is expected to confound broader circular economy goals and potentially limit new business models and stakeholder participation. Therefore, high priorities for policy efforts include federal standardization of date labeling and regional harmonization of state rescue and redistribution policies to support efficient business implementation and compliance.

Automated summary

Food waste is a significant global sustainability challenge, in which the United States plays a major role. However, progress in reducing landfilled food waste in the country has been limited. The circular economy offers an alternative approach, but the U.S. lacks comprehensive policy to support it. While the U.S. government has set ambitious goals and initiatives to reduce and recover wasted food, these efforts are voluntary and lack enforcement mechanisms. Various state policies have been enacted, but the heterogeneity among them may hinder broader circular economy goals.