Food waste & composting stats
Last updated
Sourced numbers you can cite — for a grant application, a city-council letter, a sustainability report, or an article. Every fact below points at the primary source.
The numbers
Roughly 30–40% of the US food supply is wasted.
The USDA puts food loss and waste at 30–40% of the food supply, with food waste the single largest category in US municipal landfills.
Source: USDA — Food Waste FAQs
Methane is roughly 80× more potent than CO₂ over 20 years.
Food waste in a landfill decomposes anaerobically and releases methane (CH₄). The IPCC's most recent assessment puts methane's 20-year global warming potential at ~80× that of CO₂.
Source: IPCC AR6 WG1
Landfills are the third-largest US source of human-caused methane.
Municipal solid waste landfills accounted for roughly 14% of US methane emissions in 2022, behind enteric fermentation and natural gas systems.
Food waste is ~24% of what's landfilled in the US.
EPA's most recent Wasted Food Report puts food in MSW landfills at roughly 24% of landfilled material by weight — the single largest category.
Source: US EPA — Wasted Food Report (2019 data, published 2023)
Commercial composting holds piles at 131–140 °F for days.
USCC's industry guidance: sustained temperatures of 131 °F (55 °C) for at least three consecutive days kill pathogens and most weed seeds. Backyard piles rarely hit or hold those temperatures.
Rapid City Municipal Code 8.16.010 makes odor and uncontained food waste citable.
RCMC §8.16.010 lists odors and conditions that attract vermin among the city's defined public nuisances, with a typical 7-day abatement window once Code Enforcement issues a notice. See /compliance.
Food waste is heavier than almost anything else in a restaurant dumpster.
Industry waste audits routinely find food and food-soiled paper at 50–70% of a full-service restaurant's dumpster weight, which is why diverting it usually lets operators downsize the dumpster or drop a pickup.
South Dakota lacks an organics landfill ban, but voluntary diversion still cuts costs.
Unlike CA, VT, NY, MA, NJ, RI, CT, and WA, South Dakota does not (as of mid-2026) require commercial organics diversion. Voluntary programs still work because food waste is the dense, expensive fraction of trash.
Source: ReFED — State policy tracker
Want a specific number?
If you need a stat we don't list — local diversion volume, your account's avoided methane, regional facility capacity — email hello@rapidcitycompost.com. We'll either point you at the primary source or pull the number from our own routes.
