Food Waste Piling Up More Than Ever Food Waste Piling Up More Than Ever Here's How To Help Offset Our Food Waste Problem Published December 17th, 2020 at 6:00 AM Ah, the holiday season. It’s the perfect time to be thankful, revel in holiday spirit, and waste even more food. Americans are really good at wasting food. In fact, we’re wasting more with every passing year. In 1993, Americans wasted 13.7 million tons of food, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. By 2017, we wasted around 41 million tons of food. We waste food at every link in the food chain. Some blame lies with inefficient farmers and food processors. Consumers often buy more food than they need, and it ends up being forgotten in our giant refrigerators. Even restaurants generate vast piles of scraps.