The holiday season, while a wonderful time of the year, is also filled with large amounts of waste. From Halloween food waste to Thanksgiving food waste—which results in about 200 million pounds of turkey meat being thrown out each year—it’s undeniable that waste is a major concern during this season.
That said, by the time we reach Christmas, there’s already been considerable food waste due to overconsumption. However, it’s never too late to pick up more sustainable habits, meaning we can make this Christmas even better than the last.
Whether you want to reduce household food waste or optimize business processes to minimize Christmas food waste, we encourage everyone to get involved.
Keep reading to learn the common causes of food waste during Christmas and what we can do to make a difference.
Key Takeaways
- Holiday food waste has far-reaching effects, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, resource depletion, financial burdens, and missed opportunities to help those facing food insecurity.
- There are multiple underlying causes of Christmas food waste, including traditions, impulse purchases, lack of planning, and poor storage practices.
- Households and businesses can donate surplus meals and ingredients to local food charities and food banks to reduce waste while giving back to their community.
- Composting is a valuable strategy in the fight against food waste, as it diverts various types of food waste from landfills, including fruit and vegetable scraps, leftover meat, coffee grounds, and more.
The Impact of Food Waste during Christmas
Holiday food waste has long-lasting environmental, economic, and social consequences.
From an environmental standpoint, food waste is a big contributor to resource depletion. Why?
Because when food is wasted, it also wastes the water, energy, land, and labor required to produce it. This creates huge challenges throughout the supply chain, necessitating optimized processes and waste reduction to enhance overall efficiency.
Another huge environmental concern is food waste’s role in climate change. Unfortunately, when food decomposes in landfills, it produces methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. That said, every time food is thrown in the trash, it affects the world in ways many are unaware of.
The economic effects of food waste are also a large concern. In the U.S., 40% of food is lost or wasted, annually costing an estimated $218 billion, or 1.3% of GDP. While this statistic isn’t limited to food waste at Christmas, it highlights the financial consequences of waste.
And lastly, food waste is also a social issue. With 47 million people in the United States facing food insecurity, there’s a huge opportunity to use our resources more efficiently. This is especially true during the holiday season, which is known for being a season of giving.
As we’ll discuss below, there are ways to reduce food waste during the holidays in order to minimize the above consequences.
Common Causes of Christmas Food Waste
So why is food waste such a huge issue during the holidays?
There are multiple underlying causes of holiday food waste, including:
- Traditions: The holidays are a season of abundance. For that reason, it’s not uncommon to have huge feasts with friends and family, filled with all your favorite dishes. However, these meals, which are often larger than your everyday portions, typically result in leftovers that are thrown in the trash.
- Impulse purchases: In addition to over-preparing food for holiday meals, there’s a general increase in impulse purchases during this time. Retailers also contribute to this issue by offering holiday specials, therefore encouraging consumers to purchase products in bulk.
- Lack of planning: Without proper meal planning, consumers often buy more food than necessary or purchase ingredients they don’t need, particularly when hosting holiday dinners or accommodating family visiting from out of town.
- Poor storage practices: Improper food storage is also a huge problem, as it causes premature spoilage and contributes to Christmas waste. And since impulse purchases and over-preparation are big concerns during this time, accurate storage techniques are absolutely crucial.
How to Reduce Food Waste at Christmas
From households to small businesses and large organizations, everyone can do their part to create a more sustainable future. That said, even the smallest actions can have a big impact on the planet while also saving you money.
Keep reading to learn 5 valuable tips for reducing food waste this holiday season.
1. Plan Your Christmas Meals and Portions
To reduce Christmas food waste, you can create detailed meal plans based on the number of guests and their preferences. For instance, if you’re hosting a dinner and know that multiple people in the group do not eat meat, you can adjust your menu or purchase a smaller portion of meat to avoid having leftovers.
To streamline this process, we recommend using portion calculators, as they automatically adjust portion sizes for each meal based on your specific input. This not only helps you reduce waste but also saves you money.
2. Store Your Food Properly
Proper storage is key to minimizing food waste during the holidays. Tips for storage include using airtight containers, refrigerating or freezing cooked food within 2 hours, and storing raw meat and fresh ingredients separately. Keeping your refrigerator organized also helps you keep track of what you have, helping you prioritize the use of older ingredients to avoid waste.
Since every product is different, some items may require specific storage conditions to maintain their freshness and prevent spoilage. That said, you should always check each product’s unique storage instructions to help them stay fresh longer.
3. Use Leftovers Creatively
While meal planning helps you reduce leftovers, they’re often unavoidable during the holiday season. That said, leftovers don’t have to be a bad thing. By repurposing meals and surplus ingredients, you can turn potential waste into a delicious dish.
The key is to get creative. For instance, if you have leftover turkey or ham, you can make sandwiches out of the meat or use it in a stew. You can also make different types of casseroles, soups, pies, frittatas, and more.
4. Share Any Extra Food You Won’t Be Eating
The phrase ‘sharing is caring’ is especially true when it comes to food. There are various ways you can do this, one of which is encouraging your guests to take leftovers home. That said, you should advise guests only to take leftovers that they’ll actually consume. If not, this gesture further contributes to holiday food waste.
On the other hand, households and businesses can donate surplus meals and ingredients to local food charities and food banks. With overproduction being a big issue during the holiday season, this is a great strategy for giving back to your community. For instance, rather than discarding precooked meals and raw ingredients, retailers can donate them so that those in need have a hot meal during the holidays.
As a bonus, businesses can potentially gain food waste tax deductions from donations, therefore acting as an extra incentive.
And to encourage donations even more, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act was passed to protect donors from liability when donating food to people in need. This ensures businesses that donate in good faith can do so without fear of legal repercussions.
5. Compost What You Can’t Use
Composting is a valuable strategy in the fight against food waste. This waste management approach can be used to divert various types of food waste from landfills, including fruit and vegetable scraps, leftover meat, coffee grounds, and so much more.
In addition to increasing landfill diversion, compost can be used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer in a number of agricultural applications, helping to enrich the soil, increase crop yield, and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers.
Both households and businesses can get involved in composting initiatives. At home, individuals can choose between creating their own compost pile or joining local composting programs.
Businesses, on the other hand, can create on-site composting programs to manage food waste, or they can partner with a waste management company to streamline efforts.
Conclusion
Now that we know how much food is wasted at Christmas, it’s important that we all hold ourselves accountable for preventing waste at the source. By meal planning, donating food, and composting scraps, we can reduce the environmental impact of food waste, minimize its economic burden, and ensure our celebrations are more sustainable.
In addition to reducing food waste, knowing how to manage it is also important during high-waste seasons. At Shapiro, we provide organic waste management solutions that help businesses reduce their environmental footprint and comply with local regulations.
To learn more about our services, contact us today.
Christmas Food Waste FAQs
Many holiday traditions revolve around food, as food brings people together, helps individuals express gratitude for their loved ones, and is a way to pass down traditions from generation to generation.
The amount of food consumed varies across households, but the holidays are often associated with large meals and overindulgence. Some sources say that household garbage in the United States increases by 25 percent or more between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
The biggest sources of waste during Christmas are food, wrapping paper, gift bags, and Christmas trees, among others.
To reduce Christmas waste, you can start meal planning, improve food storage techniques, use leftovers to create new meals, donate surplus meals and ingredients, compost food scraps, and make more sustainable choices when Christmas food shopping.
Baily Ramsey, an accomplished marketing specialist, brings a unique blend of anthropological insight and marketing finesse to the digital landscape. Specializing in educational content creation, she creates content for various industries, with a particular interest in environmental initiatives.
