Food waste is driving climate change

If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest greenhouse-gas emitter, behind China and the U.S. Preventing it is one of our best opportunities to slow climate change.

Top greenhouse-gas-emitting countries vs. emissions from global food wastage

According to IPCC, global food loss and waste 
accounts for 8-10% of global emissions.

A bar chart that demonstrates the impact of global food waste emissions relative to emissions from China, India, Russia, and the United States.

Note: Country figures include their own food loss and waste.

Sources: WRI (2020) andIPCC (2019)

Your banana
peels matter

Uneaten food is the most common material in landfills and most of it comes from our homes . When that food rots, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 80x more potent than CO₂ .

An illustration showing how kitchen scraps generated in the home typically end up in landfills, where they decompose and produce methane.

There’s a better way

Based on our study, you can avoid about a half-ton of greenhouse-gas emissions per year with Mill. Instead of filling the air with methane, your kitchen scraps go right back into the food system.

Estimated annual Mill service emissions generated and avoided

A bar chart demonstrating the positive impact consumers can make by purchasing a Mill service plan..

Going full circle

The status quo is a straight line — right to the landfill. At Mill, we’re creating a closed loop. You produce food scraps. We process them into food for chickens. (According to the EPA, feeding animals is the best use for uneaten food, after feeding people.) Those chickens lay eggs. And those eggshells can go right back in the bin. The circle continues.
A family emptying kitchen scraps into their Mill kitchen bin, instead of putting them into a trash can.

This is how
we do it This is how we do it This is how
we do it

We consider sustainability in every decision we make — from sourcing product materials to community outreach.

We’re building a framework that covers:

  • 1 What we do to stop waste
  • 2 How we prevent emissions
  • 3 How we help people

Our plans and progress are open to everyone. We'll be sharing more of both soon.

A farmer feeding chickens in an orchard.

Connect with us Connect with us Connect with us

We founded this company to help people prevent waste — and we’re just getting started. We hope you’ll help us by signing up for Mill, partnering with us, or just sharing your thoughts.

Stay in the loop.

Subscribe to Mill updates.