Americans waste hundreds of thousands of tons of food every day. Researchers have found two major ways to use insects to help decrease this number. The first is to use insects to break down and turn food waste into a different resource. Breaking down food waste can turn it into feed for livestock. Insects themselves can also be combined with food waste to create a better, more nutritionally dense source of feed. In addition, they can be farmed for human consumption, which can reduce the amount of wasted resources associated with food waste as well as provide a new sustainable source of protein for humans than traditional large scale meat productions.