COLUMBUS, Ohio – If you find yourself routinely throwing away groceries and leftovers the night before you check out of an Airbnb, you’re not alone: A new study values the food wasted by U.S. vacation renters at about $2 billion each year.
Based on survey results, researchers estimated that groceries, takeout and restaurant leftovers averaging $12 in value per night of short-term lodging remains uneaten. Though the analysis didn’t pinpoint how much remaining food landed in the trash, that was the most common outcome reported, along with taking food home or leaving it behind.
On average, the value of wasted food per trip amounted to about 5.1% of the nightly rental fee.
“The 5% figure is probably similar to tax rates on lodging in...
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Taking anti-obesity drugs has led some U.S. adults to throw away more food than they tossed before starting the medications, a new study has found.
In a survey of people currently on GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic, 25% of respondents agreed they had wasted more food since taking the drugs, compared to 61% who disagreed. People who were nauseated by the drugs were more likely to report increased food waste. Being on the medications for a longer period of time and eating more vegetables were associated with less food waste.
Scientists at The Ohio State University see this study of consumer behavior as an initial effort to consider the effects of these increasingly popular anti-obesity drugs on food production and waste nationally and globally.
“This...
