The Environmental Impact of Eating Freegan for a Year

One of the main reasons I eat freegan is to decrease my environmental impact and the impact of others. By eating food that was in or headed to the trash, I prevent waste from ending in a landfill. In addition, by not purchasing food, I am decreasing the production demand and avoiding water consumption, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). There are a slew of other benefits as well.

Hypothetically, what would be the environmental impact of eating completely freegan for a year? For sake of ease, I had to make a few assumptions.

During this year you would:

• Not eat out or buy ANY food
• Otherwise be eating an “average American diet” (based on average estimates I could find)

That said, there wasn’t one source that could cover everything.  To remedy this, I patched together what I could find to make my best estimates. It may not be perfect, but hopefully, it’s close enough to give you a solid idea of the total positive environmental impact you can have by eating completely freegan for a year.

Waste

How much waste is saved by eating freegan?  According to the USDA, the average American eats 1,996 lbs of food per year [1]. As a freegan, this means you are eating and saving a literal ton of waste from a landfill. That’s about the weight of a Smart Car in food [2]! Freeganism is Smart!

Water

How much water use can be prevented? There are estimates that agriculture accounts for 92% of our water footprint (aWF)! [3]. “The average consumer in the United States has an aWF of 2,842 cubic meters per year (751K gallons), whereas the average citizens in China and India have aWFs of 1,071 and 1,089 cubic meters per year (283K and 288K gallons), respectively.” The discrepancy here is due to the U.S.’ preference to eat an animal food heavy diet whereas China and India eat a more plant-based diet. As a freegan, you are preventing 691K gallons of water from being consumed for food production every year. That’s more than enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool! [4] Per person per year! Water scarcity is a major issue – more than 1 out of 6 people lack access to safe drinking water.

Energy & GHG Emmissions

An MIT paper estimates, “Annual national energy flows totaled 340 million Btu per person. Food-related energy flows represented 14.4 percent“ [5].This means that the average person requires 49 million Btu to produce the food they eat for a year. A freegan is preventing 49 million Btu of energy every year!

Using the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator [6], 49 Million Btu converts to 5,728 pounds of GHG emissions avoidance.

In practical terms, the energy & associated GHG savings would be like not driving 6,352 miles. That’s like driving from New York to Los Angeles to Disney World and back to New York!

Additional Benefits

There are several other important environmental benefits to consider that aren’t as easy to calculate:

Packaging

A significant amount of packaging is produced to transport and store food. By eating freegan, say goodbye to packaging waste. Plus, you are preventing water, energy, and GHG from being consumed in the creation of that plastic. Plus, recyclable material from packaged food previously in the trash bin can be rerouted to the recycling bin. Yay!

Deforestation

Want to hear a disturbing fact? According to a UN report, about 7 million hectares of forest are lost each year – approximately equal to the size of Panama [7]. And according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “four commodities – beef, soy, palm oil, and wood products – drive the majority of tropical deforestation” [8]. When I read things like this – they propel me to act. If I can’t find food, I don’t want to purchase items that contain beef, soy, palm oil, and wood products. Most of the time, those ingredients are not found in a whole food, plant-based diet anyways, which I explained is the healthiest diet.

Pesticides and Antibiotics

The production of pesticides in much of our food supply requires water, energy, and creates GHG. Pesticides contaminate our groundwater [9]. Antibiotics are prevalent in animal food production and increasing antibiotic use unnecessarily is a public health risk.

Water Contamination

Water contamination from animal and GHG released from landfill decomposition and animal waste is a massive problem. Animals are so densely packed in factory farms that they produce more manure than the land can absorb as fertilizer. This runoff contaminates rivers and groundwater [10].

I could spend years to make these estimates perfect and capture the full impact, but my Uncle and I are getting hungry. We need to go find some food now. Estimates will have to do. I have enough info to act – which is the most important thing.

The NRDC estimates that 40% of food from farms to our tables goes uneaten [11]. Think of all that unnecessary waste pollution. As I’m not involved in food production, I can’t reduce waste on the farm or in its shipping. However, I can clean up waste on the back end. By eating freegan, I can lower the demand to prevent waste and pollution from happening in the first place. Naturally, not everyone can be 100% freegan. When possible, growing your own food, eating vegan, composting, and getting involved in vertical farming are other great options to reduce waste.

Summary

Here is the total calculable environmental impact of eating completely freegan for a year compared to buying an average American diet:

• 1,996 lbs of waste saved from a landfill / the weight of a Smart Car
• 691,000 gallons of water avoided / enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool
• 49 million Btus of energy avoided / enough to drive from NYC to LA to Disney World and back to NYC
• 6,805 lbs of GHG emissions avoided / the emissions from driving from NYC to LA to Disney World and Back to NYC

with bonus benefits of less:

• Packaging
• Deforestation
• Pesticide and antibiotic damage
• Water contamination from animal agriculture

Pretty great overall! It feels good to find food, eat it, and know you are having such a positive environmental impact. My Uncle would be proud.

Anything you think I’m missing, overcounting, or calculating incorrectly? Leave a comment and let me know! Need help on your freegan journey? Start here and take advantage of these resources!

Do good and have fun!

– Freddy

[1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-availability-per-capita-data-system/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Fortwo

[3] http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Hoekstra-Mekonnen-2012-WaterFootprint-of-Humanity.pdf

[4] http://www.nswic.org.au/pdf/fact_sheets/USEFUL%20WATER%20COMPARISONS.pdf

[5] http://web.mit.edu/dusp/dusp_extension_unsec/reports/polenske_ag_energy.pdf

[6] https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator

[7] http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5588e.pdf

[8] https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/whats-driving-deforestation#.XCVp2FVKhEY

[9] https://water.usgs.gov/edu/pesticidesgw.html

[10] https://mercyforanimals.org/animal-agriculture-wastes-one-third-of-drinkable [11] https://www.nrdc.org/resources/wasted-how-america-losing-40-percent-its-food-farm-fork-landfill