According to a report from Harvard, ReFED, NRDC, and WWF, "Food waste is the largest component of landfills nationwide—contributing over 36 million tons to landfills each yearand accounting for 24.1% of landfilled municipal solid waste. Food waste alone produces 4% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions per year.Further, instead of being wasted, these organic inputs could contribute to better soil matter and reduce soil loss, contributing to a more circular economy. Despite improvements in food waste prevention and recovery initiatives, some food is inevitably discarded. Recycling remaining food waste has the annual potential to divert 20.9 million tons of food scraps from landfills and produce a net financial benefit of $239.7 million.21 The 2023 Farm Bill should support methods of food waste management that are sustainable, economically beneficial, and limit the use of landfill space and reliance on incinerators."

"..as food items decompose in landfills, they release harmful greenhouse gases at alarming rates.Municipal waste landfills are the third-largest source of human-created methane emissions, accounting for 15.1% of methane created by humans in the United States in 2019 and 8-10% of all global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from 2010 to 2016."

https://chlpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2023-Farm-Bill-Food-Waste.pdf