The USDA estimates the United States wastes between 30 and 40% of its food supply, meaning about a third of it just gets thrown out.

That reality has professors on a mission to find ways to reduce this waste, with the help of a $2.5 million grant. It’s part of a partnership between the EPA, USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Spectrum News 1 Ohio was joined by Brian Roe, a Fred N. VanBuren professor of farm management at The Ohio State University. He’s also the manager of a pilot campaign aimed at reducing food waste in American households.

Roe said they will work with three U.S. cities that have yet to be determined to bring the message to consumers about reducing food waste. They're going to see how well the messaging works. He says a typical household typically throws away about $1,500 to $2,000 in food a year.

"There's waste all along the food chain at the farm level, distribution, retailer level, and it has a substantial impact," Roe said. "Thinking about taking a third of all food that's produced never enters the human stomach. That's a lot of food going to places oftentimes in the landfills, where we have to pay money to put it into a hole in the ground where it then creates pollution."

Roe said people don't like wasting food, and so he thinks it would help to focus on creative ways to use leftovers that can reduce waste and grocery bills.

"And that can really help their bottom line as well as helping out the environment and our resource base," he said.