How many pounds of food waste do American's make a year?

Wow, the number is high. I see such terrible waste in the school system. Years ago the children were fed in a lunch line with the staff doling out the food, now the children take too much and throw it all away, then go and get an ice cream. The stores too waste, when something is a day old or such instead of giving it away because the are legally not allowed to sell it they throw it away. Buffets are wasteful because they discard foods not eaten at the end of the night. I dont they should serve it the next day, but package it up and give it to the local shelter for meals, leftovers are better then nothing. Even in hospitals they waste, they bring meals to people that either dont like what they have or cant possibly eat after certain procedures, just to give it a try, and it gets thrown away, if I had to guess, I would say the number in pounds is in the hundred of thousands in America every day. Spoiled is our middle name here, no pun intended.