From daily meals to ensuring a reliable pantry supply, the metal food can plays a variety of roles in America’s food systemand could help tackle one of the country’s most persistent and expensive problems: food waste. 

America’s Food Waste Challenge

Food waste is a global problem with an economic and environmental cost. Over one billion tons of food are wasted annually, generating 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and costing the global economy $1 trillion annually.

The United States discards nearly 60 million tons annually, more food than any other country and an estimated 40% of its entire food supply. That equates to 325 pounds per American.43% of waste comes from households, with restaurants, grocery stores, and food service companies close behind. The U.S. EPA estimates the average American family wastes nearly $3,000 of food annually.

Food waste leaves a massive environmental footprint. The life cycle of food, from production to disposal, produces the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 51 million cars. And nearly a quarter of solid waste in landfills is rotting food that eventually decomposes into methane, the second most dangerous climate pollutant.

Climate change is intensifying food waste as rising heatwaves, droughts, and other extreme weather events increasingly damage crops and disrupt food production. The consequences are especially concerning for the United States, where a recent study warns that production of major crops could decline by nearly 50% by 2100 if current climate trends continue.

There are a number of solutions that could be implemented to reduce food waste, including consumer education and awareness and improved supply chain and logistics management.

The food can plays an important role in preventing food waste, but its impact could be limited by weak recycling systems and the added cost of tariffs.

Metal Food Cans Provide Protection and Long Shelf-life

The metal food can is well-suited to meet this challenge.Food waste occurs at every stage of the food supply chain, from production to handling and storage to consumption, and the metal food can provides protection throughout.  It can preserve fruits and vegetables at peak freshness, reduce spoilage, and ensure that nutritious food remains available even when harvests fluctuate.

Its long shelf life and portion control can help prevent food waste by ensuring more of what households buy is actually used. By keeping out oxygen, light, and moisture, the seal of a metal food can protects the food for months and eliminates the need for energy‑intensive refrigeration.

That durability directly supports the national effort led by the EPA, USDA and FDA to cut food loss and waste by 50% by 2030, a national target designed to save households money and reduce methane emissions from landfills.

Energy‑Free Protection for Everyday Reliability

Another of the metal food can’s often-overlooked advantages is its ability to remain safe, fresh, and shelf‑stable without using any energy for conservation. Unlike refrigerated or frozen foods that require continuous electricity, canned foods remain protected at room temperature for months, offering reliable access to nutrition without the added cost of refrigeration at home.

An Affordable Product Under Pressure from Tariffs

However, the impact of the tariffs placed on steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. is starting to be felt by canmakers, making food cans increasingly more expensive. Through its national association, the Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), the industry warns that the tariffs are raising the cost of critical input materials, some of which cannot be sourced from U.S. producers in the quantities required. This pushes up the shelf price of canned food and ultimately threatens U.S. food security by elevating costs across the supply chain.

Assuming the continued existence of U.S. tariffs on the importation of metals used to make cans, additional targeted tariff relief is necessary to protect consumers, safeguard skilled U.S. manufacturing jobs, and prevent foreign canned goods from gaining an advantage over U.S.‑made products. This is supported by 72% of American voters, who have already noticed price increases in recent months and are concerned about America’s increasing dependence on imports of canned food.

A Fully Recyclable Package Within a System That Needs Strengthening

Food cans remain one of the clearest examples of true circularity in the U.S. packaging system. Metal is endlessly recyclable and can re-enter the manufacturing cycle again and again, as long as the system captures and recycles the cans.

The gap today is not recyclability but recovery, and if metal food cans are to continue playing a role in food waste reduction, America’s recycling infrastructure must be reinforced. Strengthening local collection, improving sorting where needed, and ensuring every household can conveniently recycle food cans would keep high‑value materials in circulation, reduce waste management costs over time, and support domestic manufacturing resilience.

Emerging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies in the U.S. could also help strengthen recycling by creating more consistent funding and clearer responsibilities for improving collection and sorting systems.

A stronger recycling infrastructure will ensure circularity, enabling valuable steel and aluminum cans to continue fighting food waste rather than ending up next to it in landfills.

An Indispensable Package for America’s Future

The metal food can naturally preserves the food’s nutritional value without energy use, shields family budgets, reduces waste at home and across the supply chain, and secures a more circular U.S. economy when combined with stronger recycling infrastructure.  Looking ahead, metal food cans will remain vital to food security and providing affordable access to safe food. Their continued impact will depend on keeping material costs manageable, strengthening recycling systems, and supporting national goals to reduce food waste and ensure reliable access to nutritious food for all.