Quantification of Food Waste Disposal in the United States: A Meta-Analysis

This data set is the result of a systematic review of studies on food waste disposed in the United States, an issue which major consequences for social, nutritional, economic, and environmental issues. It was created to determine how much food is discarded in the U.S., and to determine if specific factors drive increased disposal. By applying meta-analytic tools on it this dataset, it was found that the aggregate proportion of food waste in U.S. municipal solid waste from 1995 to 2013 was 0.147 (95% CI 0.137–0.157) of total disposed waste, which is lower than that estimated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the same period (0.176). Further, that the proportion of food waste increased significantly with time, and there were no significant differences in food waste between rural and urban samples, or between commercial/institutional and residential samples. These results are published in the study titled Quantification of Food Waste Disposal in the United States: A Meta-Analysis (Thyberg et al., 2015).

本数据集为针对美国餐厨垃圾处置相关研究的系统综述成果，该议题对社会、营养、经济与环境领域均具有重大影响。本数据集旨在明确美国餐厨垃圾的丢弃总量，并探究是否存在特定因素推动了垃圾处置量的增长。通过对本数据集应用元分析工具（meta-analytic tools），研究发现1995年至2013年间，美国城市生活垃圾（municipal solid waste）中餐厨垃圾的占比为总处置垃圾的0.147（95%置信区间0.137–0.157），低于同期美国环境保护署（U.S. Environmental Protection Agency）的估算值（0.176）。此外，餐厨垃圾占比随时间呈显著上升趋势；且城乡样本间、商业/公共机构与居民样本间的餐厨垃圾占比均无显著差异。上述研究成果发表于题为《美国餐厨垃圾处置量化：一项元分析》（Quantification of Food Waste Disposal in the United States: A Meta-Analysis）的论文中（Thyberg等人，2015年）。