DES MOINES, Iowa ( WOI ) - An analysis by food waste nonprofit ReFED finds that 320 million pounds — or about $550 million worth of food — will be tossed in the trash this Thanksgiving, up four million pounds from 2024.

Local organizers said Iowa follows that trend, citing the state’s Waste Characterization Study .

“If you look at those every 3-4 years that they’ve conducted, you’ve seen kind of a steady increase in the amount of organic and food waste going to landfills,” said Joe Bolick, director of the Iowa Waste Reduction Center at UNI. “Populations continue to grow a little bit, but we are a consumer society, and a lot of that with the consumption does come waste.”

Bolick said the decomposition of this waste generates methane, a greenhouse gas that is harmful to the air and

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