Food banks tend to be large and have lots of special equipment that increases their efficiency. Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images Low-income Americans need more help getting enough to eat, but not much of the food retailers that sell groceries could potentially donate is given away. Only 13% of it ends up at food banks, according to a 2026 report produced by ReFED, a nonprofit that studies and tries to prevent food waste. The rest is composted; turned into animal feed, biofuels and other industrial