When looking into your garbage can, odds are you will see moldy apples, stale chips, or any number of other types of food waste. It?s hard to avoid considering that everyone must eat constantly throughout each day.

On average, each and every person generates up to four pounds of trash per day. Over an entire lifetime, this adds up to around 600 times a person?s adult weight in waste for every individual in the United States. Much of this can be attributed to throwing away food.

However, multiple problems can arise from throwing away trash containing food and perishables.

One large issue is the vast amounts of space that this waste takes up when placed into landfills after being picked up by trash removal services. So much space is already taken up by other types of municipal solid waste, that there is barely any room left as it is.

Unfortunately, when these spaces must be expanded to encompass all of this garbage, they take up vital space in the environment. The result is that animals can lose their homes, their supply of food, and just living space in general. But space is not the only issue that food waste being thrown into landfills can can cause.

As food rots, it releases methane into the atmosphere. This hazardous green house gas is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Shockingly enough, this is the same emission typically released through the burning of fossil fuels. Methane emissions have become such a widespread concern, that they have fueled numerous industries to find alternative sources of energy, such as solar panels, wind power, and electric automobiles.

Obviously the solution will not be to starve yourself, but there are a few precautions you can take to reduce your food waste. Making a point to purchase only as much food as you really need can greatly reduce the amount of food your throw in the garbage. Reduction in general is an important step in the waste hierarchy, or the ?3 Rs,? which also includes reusing and recycling.

So next time you?re at the grocery store take along a specific shopping list. And when you?re cooking, only serve as much as you safely think you?ll be able to eat. The environment may depend on it.