Household food waste statistics describe several different things: national estimates of discarded mass, survey answers about what people throw away, and studies that separate edible food from inedible parts. Those measures are useful, but they are not interchangeable. A respondent’s estimate of weekly volume is not a weighed national total, and “surplus food” may include parts that a food-waste measure excludes.
The figures below show the scale of the issue while keeping each population, year, and measurement type in view. They also point to practical differences in what households report wasting and how that waste is handled.
Contents
- Household food waste statistics: how much is discarded
- Household food waste statistics: food types most often wasted
- Household food waste statistics: disposal and weekly amounts
- Household food waste statistics: reported causes
- Household food waste: edible shares and study findings
- Household food waste: costs, impacts, and public concern
- Sources
Household food waste statistics: how much is discarded
In the European Union, households generated an estimated 31 million tonnes of food waste in 2024, or 69 kilograms per inhabitant. The per-person figure places household waste in a form that is easier to compare across populations than a total tonnage, though it remains an EU-wide estimate rather than a value for every individual country.
Country estimates provide another view. Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency estimated 219,000 tonnes of household food waste in 2024. That total works out to approximately 119 kilograms per household or 41 kilograms per person. The Irish estimate includes food waste collected from households, waste taken to civic amenity sites, and home composting.
A study of Estonia’s food supply chain estimated annual household waste at 81,000 tonnes, based on detailed survey data collected in 2020 and national waste reporting data from 2019. Its estimated averages were approximately 149 kilograms per household and 61 kilograms per person annually. These are study-derived annual estimates, not measurements from 2022, the year the policy brief was published.
| Geography and reference period | Household food waste estimate | Per-person or per-household equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| European Union, 2024 | 31 million tonnes | 69 kg per inhabitant |
| Ireland, 2024 | 219,000 tonnes | About 119 kg per household; 41 kg per person |
| Estonia, annual estimate based on 2020 study data | 81,000 tonnes | About 149 kg per household; 61 kg per person |
Sources: Eurostat, Food waste and food waste prevention — estimates; Ireland EPA, Food Waste Statistics for Ireland; Estonian Environment Agency and SEI, The Generation of Food Waste and Food Loss in the Estonian Food Supply Chain.
The numbers should not be ranked as if they were produced with one uniform method. Countries define and collect household waste differently, and the periods differ. Their value is in showing the scale reported within each source’s own scope.
Household food waste statistics: food types most often wasted
Malaysia’s National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHIS) 2025 reported different leading categories for raw food and processed or cooked food. Among raw foods, vegetables accounted for 29.1% of the most frequently wasted category, followed by fruits at 22.4% and fish or seafood at 15.0%. For processed or cooked foods, rice had the highest reported share at 16.7%, with vegetables at 15.8% and takeaway food at 13.8%.
These percentages describe reported food categories in the survey; they are not the share of all Malaysian food waste by weight. The categories also distinguish raw foods from prepared foods, so the two lists should be read separately.
The Estonian study offers a composition estimate with a different scope: household food loss, defined in the report as avoidable food waste. Vegetables represented 32% of this food loss, cooked ready-to-eat food 22%, fruits and berries 18%, and dairy products 13%. These shares describe the study’s estimated composition, not the frequency of answers in a survey.
Source: Malaysia Department of Statistics, Special Release: Household Food Waste in Malaysia 2025; Estonian Environment Agency and SEI report.
Household food waste statistics: disposal and weekly amounts
Malaysia’s NHIS 2025 found that 79.3% of households disposed of food waste together with other household waste. The survey reported disposal of processed or cooked food waste by 94.1% of households and raw food waste by 88.7%. These figures describe the reported prevalence of disposal by food type, not the proportion of total waste going into a particular bin.
For households reporting food waste, the most common weekly quantity category was less than 500 grams. That category covered 48.2% of respondents reporting raw food waste and 45.6% of those reporting processed or cooked food waste. Separately, the report estimated Malaysia’s household food waste at between 31.9 and 97.3 kilograms per capita per year. This is a broad estimated range, rather than one precise point estimate.
A New Zealand survey conducted April 4–7, 2025, asked adults to estimate edible food wasted by their household using a 2-litre container as a volume reference. Seventy-one percent said their household wasted less than one container per week; 16% said approximately one container; and 12% reported more than two containers weekly. The survey was an online, nationally representative sample of 1,006 adults aged 18 and over. These are self-reported volumes of edible food, not results from household weighing.
Sources: Malaysia Department of Statistics, Special Release: Household Food Waste in Malaysia 2025; New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, 2025 Waste and Resource Efficiency — Behavioural Trend Monitoring Survey.
Household food waste statistics: reported causes
Survey responses can help explain what people identify as reasons for waste, but they do not establish why a country’s total waste level is high or low. In Malaysia’s NHIS 2025, expired food was the leading reported cause at 19.3%. Other cited reasons included storing leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer too long (18.1%), overbuying (15.2%), and cooking excessive amounts (15.1%).
In New Zealand’s 2025 adult survey, 52% cited not eating leftovers as a reason their household wasted food. Food going off in the fridge or freezer was cited by 32%. The NZ results are self-reported reasons; they do not measure the amount attributable to each reason. Their difference from Malaysia’s reported causes may reflect different question wording, response options, or populations, so the percentages are not a direct country-to-country comparison.
Sources: Malaysia Department of Statistics, Special Release: Household Food Waste in Malaysia 2025; New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, 2025 Waste and Resource Efficiency — Behavioural Trend Monitoring Survey.
Household food waste: edible shares and study findings
Total food waste and avoidable food waste are different measures. Estonia’s study estimated that about 34,000 tonnes of its 81,000-tonne annual household total—42%—was avoidable food waste, or “food loss” in the report’s terminology. At the estimated average household level, that was 63 kilograms of food loss out of approximately 149 kilograms of total food waste per year. Per person, the corresponding estimates were 26 kilograms of food loss within 61 kilograms of total household food waste.
UK household data collected in 2021/22 estimated 6.4 million tonnes of household food waste. Of that, 74%, or 4.7 million tonnes, was classified as edible parts. This edible share is specific to the UK data and its classification; it should not be applied to other countries’ totals.
A household audit in Guelph, Ontario, reported approximately 2.98 kilograms of avoidable food waste per household per week, with an estimated value of $18.01 per household per week. These figures describe the study sample, identified as 94 households, and are not a Canadian national estimate. They offer a close-up view of measured household waste and its estimated value, complementing broader national figures.
Sources: Estonian Environment Agency and SEI report; UK Government, United Kingdom Food Security Report 2024: Theme 2: UK Food Supply Sources; van der Werf et al., Valuing the Multiple Impacts of Household Food Waste.
Household food waste: costs, impacts, and public concern
ReFED estimated that U.S. homes generated 23.5 million U.S. tons of surplus food in 2024, of which 23.2 million tons became food waste. “Surplus food” includes food and inedible parts, so it is not synonymous with food waste. ReFED estimated that 48.4% of residential food waste—11.2 million tons—went to landfill. Its annual estimate also attributed 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions to surplus food from homes and reported 1.13 million metric tons of methane emissions from the residential sector.
The same fact sheet estimated that U.S. consumers spent $141 billion on uneaten food in 2024, equivalent to 13% of food-at-home spending. It also estimated that growing food not eaten in homes required 4.54 trillion gallons of water that year. These are national estimates covering residential surplus food and associated resource use, rather than household-by-household bills or water measurements.
Concern is a separate measure from waste quantity. In the 2025 IFIC Food & Health Survey, 54% of U.S. adults aged 18–80 said they were concerned about the amount of food waste their household produces; 44% were not concerned and 2% were unsure. The survey was conducted March 13–27, 2025, and its concern question does not measure how much food respondents discarded.
Sources: ReFED, Food Waste by Sector: Residential; IFIC, 2025 Food & Health Survey Full Report.
Sources
- Special Release: Household Food Waste in Malaysia 2025
- Food waste and food waste prevention — estimates
- Food Waste Statistics for Ireland
- Food Waste by Sector: Residential
- United Kingdom Food Security Report 2024: Theme 2: UK Food Supply Sources
- 2025 Waste and Resource Efficiency — Behavioural Trend Monitoring Survey
- The Generation of Food Waste and Food Loss in the Estonian Food Supply Chain
- Valuing the Multiple Impacts of Household Food Waste
- 2025 IFIC Food & Health Survey Full Report