This Is How Much Fruit You're Throwing Away Each Year

A survey yielded some disturbing results this week when it came to Americans and fruit. The short version? Many Americans are not eating enough — and worse, they're wasting dozens of pieces of fruit (and hundreds of dollars) each year, according to SWNS.

The survey was conducted by the Washington Red Raspberry Commission and marketing company OnePoll. After interviewing 2,000 Americans, the survey estimated that on average, Americans waste $10 worth of fruit each week by tossing out spoiled or unused produce. If you do the math, you're potentially wasting $520 worth of fruit each year. It gets worse, though, because 70 percent of respondents estimated that they're not eating as much fruit as they should be.

However, the survey might not paint an accurate picture — as far as servings of fruit go, anyway. The survey defines the correct daily quantity of fruit as five servings. But most experts recommend at least five servings of fruit or vegetables, according to Healthline.

Regardless of the technicalities, nobody wants to waste money or food. And in the United States, it's a problem: somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply is thrown away, according to the Food and Drug Administration. That's billions of pounds, and billions of dollars

If you just glanced at the bunch of browning bananas on your kitchen table, we don't blame you. But the good news is huge: There are many easy and creative ways to prevent food waste, particularly produce waste. One simple step you can take is to stop buying so much food in one trip, according to Medical News Today. While a Costco sale on blueberries can seem appealing, you want to be honest with yourself: How much of that produce will you actually use?

If you're looking to eat more fruit and waste less, that's a different story. Consider repurposing your produce. You can fold your mushy bananas into banana bread or pancakes. You can freeze your overripe peaches and raspberries and throw them into a shake or smoothie later. You can blend soft strawberries into a salad dressing, preserving the sweet flavor while eliminating the unappetizing texture. Or just slow-cook the fruit with some sugar until it becomes something tasty, which it totally will (via The Kitchn).