It turned out that meal kits had more plastic waste than grocery store meals, but less food waste. The researchers took these leftovers and estimated how much would eventually be wasted, based on USDA data about consumer habits.įor each meal type, the researchers fed their measurements into a life-cycle analysis - which incorporates existing data on emissions throughout the supply chain - to estimate the total emissions for each stage of the process: agricultural production, packaging production, distribution, supply chain losses (for example: unsold grocery store food), consumption and food waste. But store meals required purchasing food in larger quantities than necessary (think a 12-pack of hamburger buns for a two-person meal). The Salt Grocery Stores Get Mostly Mediocre Scores On Their Food Waste Effortsįor the Blue Apron meals, all food provided was used. Then they cooked both in parallel and "measured every bit of food, plastic, bits of cardboard, everything for each type of meal," says Miller. To find out, the study's authors ordered five meals from Blue Apron and enlisted undergraduate researchers to purchase the necessary ingredients from grocery stores for the same recipes. The researchers thought that perhaps because meal kits generally deliver only the food you need for a meal, their larger plastic footprint could be offset by savings from reduced waste. ![]() (Losses on the farm and between the farm and retailer were not estimated because of data limitations for some of the food groups.) is wasted, with 10% occurring at the retail level and 21% at the consumer level. In a study from 2010, the USDA estimated that about 31% of the food produced in the U.S. report, if food waste were a country, its production, processing and distribution would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, just behind the U.S. But to get the whole picture, Heard says you need to consider emissions from fertilizer production, farm equipment and processing operations and how that food gets distributed.Ī substantial chunk of food's carbon footprint is waste, much of which happens during distribution and consumption. A small part of this is producing the plastic that keeps food fresh. The plastic that keeps food fresh certainly contributes to food's carbon footprint. One study estimates it is responsible for 19% to 29% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. What really ends up mattering is the quantity of food wasted throughout the supply chain."įood production has a huge carbon footprint. ![]() candidate at the University of Michigan and first author of the study, says, "When you zoom out and look at the whole life cycle, packaging is a relatively small contributor to the overall environmental impacts of a meal. "That's important, but it's not the full story."īrent Heard, a Ph.D. "Folks are really focused on the plastics and packaging in meal kits," says Shelie Miller, an environmental scientist at the University of Michigan who led the study. (Note: Blue Apron has been a sponsor of NPR programming.) Much of the reduced emissions stems from less food waste and a more streamlined supply chain, according to the study. The study, published Monday in the scientific journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling, examines the whole life cycle - from farm to garbage can - of meal kits and their grocery store equivalents, and finds that, on average, store meals produce 33% more greenhouse gas emissions than their equivalents from Blue Apron. The Salt Opinion: How I Learned To Face Food Waste And Plan Smarter
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