Consider doing this: upon exiting a grocery store with four food-stuffed bags, drop one into the trash can before loading the others into the car.

The suggestion is not as ludicrous as it sounds. A quarter to as much as 40 percent of the food grown, processed and transported in the U.S. ends up in landfills or incinerators, according to Feeding America, a network of community food banks aimed at ending hunger. Restaurants and retailers account for much of it, but consumers’ demands for perfect-appearing fruits and vegetables and over-laden restaurant plates also contribute.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates some 30 million tons of food waste are dumped in landfills annually, making wasted food the largest single trash component. Connecticut officials estimate 22 percent of all garbage generated, and ultimately incinerated, is food waste.

Rotting food also produces methane gas that contributes to global warming. And of course there is a financial cost, estimated to be $1,500 a year for a family of four, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Some local farmers are stepping up to this challenge with recycling. John and Thomas Millaras, who operate Quaker Hill’s Millaras Piggery, feed their 350 swine some 50 tons of food waste weekly. Another long-time Waterford establishment, Secchiaroli Farm, also is recycling food waste into pig feed.

Feeding food scraps to pigs is hardly a new phenomenon. Generations of small farmers transformed food scraps from the family table into pig food, often called swill. Contemporary recycling of the type encouraged by a 2014 state law, however, is carefully regulated to prevent spoiled food from spreading disease.

These farmers start their food waste retrieval routes long before sunrise, picking up from local colleges, hotels, grocery stores and restaurants. All meat in the mix must be cooked to 225 degrees for at least 30 minutes.

Besides diverting food waste from landfills and incinerators, the practice also saves businesses money. The Millarases charge $10 to $50 a ton, compared to the cost to dump trash at the Preston incinerator, $58 a ton plus the hauler’s fee.

Just as important is the well-being of the pigs. The animals love their feed of overripe fruit and vegetables, expired cooked meats and, because a pig has a sweet tooth, cakes, cookies, and other desserts.

We commend these local farmers and encourage more farmers to consider feeding recycled food waste to their livestock.