A recent study from Leiden University, in The Netherlands, shines a grim light on the global meat industry, adding insult to injury –a significant percentage of animals killed for food end up in the trash. Approximately one-third of meat worldwide, around 18 billion animals yearly, ends up as waste. This wastage occurs at various stages, including production, transportation, retail, and within households. In addition, the environmental cost of this waste is not just in the form of discarded meat but also the resources expended in its production, including water, feed, and land.

The World’s Most Thrown-Away Animals

Chickens, the most consumed and arguably the most abused animal, top the list of wastage at 16.8 billion chickens per year. They are followed by turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats, and cows. China leads in terms of wastefulness, with 16% of animals raised for food ending up in the trash, closely followed by the United States at 13%. The U.K. ranks tenth. On a per capita basis, China throws away about 1.9 animals per person yearly, while the U.S. figure is substantially higher at 7.1 animals. The U.K.’s average is 4.79 animals per person.

Where Does Loss Happen?

In developing countries, most losses occur during production. That contrasts developed countries where waste often happens at the consumer level – in grocery stores, restaurants, and homes. In North America, about a quarter occurs on farms, where around 1.5 million animals die daily due to disease or injury. Breeding practices, particularly in chickens, lead to various health issues, causing premature deaths.

Production and Transport Figures

Transport-related deaths also contribute to this waste, with inadequate enforcement of animal welfare laws during transportation making the problems much worse. The “28-hour law” states that transporters can only move animals for 28 consecutive hours before unloading them for water, food, or rest. The law is not strictly enforced, though, leading to even more deaths during transport, and some animals, like chickens and ducks, are exempt from this law altogether. One such incident saw over 34,000 chickens succumb to freezing weather.

Environmental Impact of Meat Production and Waste

Contributing to Greenhouse Emissions

The environmental impact of this waste is profound. An estimated one-third of all global greenhouse emissions are attributed to food and agriculture, with animal farming being one of the main contributors. Deforestation for animal farming, methane emissions from animals, and pollution from waste products are just a few environmental costs.

Raising animals for meat contributes twice as much pollution as producing plant-based foods. Farmers destroy forests to make way for animal farming, which impacts biodiversity and removes precious trees that clean our air. Animal emissions from digestive processes also contribute significantly to air pollution.

Every aspect of meat production releases harmful gasses into the air. Despite laws banning food from entering landfills, a sizable percentage of meat thrown away ends up there. Nine states have laws prohibiting food from entering landfills, but they are not always adhered to. Food in landfills generates excess amounts of the highly potent greenhouse gas methane. Six percent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste.

Ethical Considerations

Beyond the environmental implications, the ethical concerns are stark. The conditions in which these animals are raised and slaughtered are often inhumane, characterized by overcrowding, poor hygiene, and lack of proper care. Chickens are kept in unsanitary, cramped conditions, with poor air quality and no room to move. Cows spend most of their life standing or lying in filthy, crowded pens. Pigs live in barren enclosures with solid floors that are painful to stand on. All these animals spend all day standing or sitting in their feces.

It is a terrible thing to slaughter an animal for consumption. To kill an animal and throw them away is even more deplorable. Each person who removes meat from their daily diet creates one less consumer for farms to waste meat and life on. If demand steadily declined, we would save billions of lives and resources yearly. One third of animals raised for food are thrown away, wasting not only resources but the suffering they endured to end up on someone’s plate. 100% of animals used for want to live. Keeping animals off your plate entirely would help the environment, human health, and the animals that are suffering needlessly.