Food loss and waste

Extent

Global extent

Efforts are underway by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to measure progress towards SDG Target 12.3 through two separate indices: the Food Loss Index (FLI) and the Food Waste Index (FWI).

According to FAO's The State of Food and Agriculture 2019, globally, in 2016, around 14 percent of the world's food is lost from production before reaching the retail level. Generally, levels of loss are higher for fruits and vegetables than for cereals and pulses. However, even for the latter, significant levels are found in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, while they are limited in Central and Southern Asia.

Estimates from UN Environment's Food Waste Index suggest that about 931 million tonnes of food, or 17 percent of total food available to consumers in 2019, went into the waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services.

According to a report from Feedback EU, the EU wastes 153 million tonnes of food each year, around double previous estimates.

Earlier estimates

In 2011, an FAO publication based on studies carried out by The Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIK) found that the total of global amount of food loss and waste was around one third of the edible parts of food produced for human consumption, amounting to about 1.3 billion tonnes (1.28×10⁹ long tons; 1.43×10⁹ short tons) per year. As the following table shows, industrialized and developing countries differ substantially. In developing countries, it is estimated that 400–500 calories per day per person are wasted, while in developed countries 1,500 calories per day per person are wasted. In the former, more than 40% of losses occur at the post-harvest and processing stages, while in the latter, more than 40% of losses occur at the retail and consumer levels. The total food waste by consumers in industrialized countries (222 million tonnes or 218,000,000 long tons or 245,000,000 short tons) is almost equal to the entire food production in sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes or 226,000,000 long tons or 254,000,000 short tons).

A 2013 report from the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) likewise estimated that 30–50% (or 1.2–2 billion tonnes or 1.18×10⁹–1.97×10⁹ long tons or 1.32×10⁹–2.20×10⁹ short tons ) of all food produced remains uneaten.

Individual countries

Australia

Each year in New South Wales, more than 25 million meals are delivered by charity OzHarvest from food that would otherwise be wasted. Each year, the Australian economy loses $20 billion in food waste. This has a crucial environmental impact through the waste of resources used to produce, manufacture, package, and distribute that food. Composting and worm farming in food-growing families divert over 361,000 tonnes of food waste—the equivalent of seven Sydney Harbour Bridges—from landfills annually. Over four in ten (45%) Australians grow some of their own food, or around 9 million Australians. Research by the Australia Institute shows more than half (52%) of Australian households grow some of their own food, with an additional 13% intending to start. Despite this widespread participation, yields are generally low and turnover is high. Key motivations include health benefits, better taste, and cost savings.

In addition, it is estimated that 7.6 million tonnes of CO₂ is generated by the disposed food in landfills, costing households $19.3 billion. It is also the cause of odour, leaching, and potential generation for diseases. In March 2019, the Australian ministry of the environment shared the key findings of Australia's National food waste baseline, which will facilitate the tracking of the progress towards their goal to halve Australian food waste by 2030.

Many initiatives were taken by the Australian government in order to help achieve this goal. In fact, they financed $1.2 million in organization that invest in renewable energies systems to store and transport food. They also funded more than $10 million for research on food waste reduction. Local governments have also implemented programs such as information sessions on storing food and composting, diversion of waste from restaurants and cafes from landfills to shared recycling facilities and donation of food to organization that would otherwise be wasted. Research shows people are twice as likely to reduce food waste for financial reasons than for altruistic ones. Households motivated by saving money wasted $100 less than those who weren't.

There are also coal mining and coal seam gas drilling disrupt vital aquifers, affecting agriculture and ecosystems. These industries have discharged contaminated water into rivers, with no clear solution for managing the polluted byproducts of gas extraction. Their long-term environmental and social impacts have prompted calls for stronger federal protections for Australia's food, water, and communities.

Polling shows strong public support in Australia for food waste reforms, with 78% backing clearer date labelling and 72% supporting relaxed cosmetic standards. Despite this, 81% believe individuals also share responsibility for reducing waste.

Brazil

According to the Global Food Donation Policy Atlas, approximately 26.3 million tonnes of food is lost or wasted along the supply chain. Brazil is also facing an estimated 61.3 million people dealing with food insecurity. Brazil's government has made plans to prioritize these issues in their national policy agenda

A 2026 study of supermarkets in Brazil found that over 2,000 kg of fruits and vegetables were wasted weekly per store, along with that creating significant greenhouse gas emissions and highlighting retail and produce as a key area of intervention in Brazil's food waste system.

Canada

In Canada, 58% of all food is wasted, amounting to 35.5 million tonnes of food per annuum. The value of this lost food is equivalent to CA$21 billion. Such quantities of food would be enough to feed all Canadians for five months. It is estimated that about one-third of this waste could be spared and sent to those in need. There are many factors that contribute to such large-scale waste. Manufacturing and processing food alone incur costs of CA$21 billion, or 4.82 million tons. Per household, it is estimated that $1,766 is lost in food loss and waste. The Government of Canada identifies three main factors contributing to household waste: (1) buying too much food and not eating it before it spoils, (2) malfunctioning or poorly designed packaging that does not deter spoilage rates or contamination, and (3) improper disposing of food – using garbage bins instead of those intended for organic waste.

Canada, Mexico, and the United States are working together under the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in order to address the severe problem of food waste in North America.

Canada specifically is working in the following ways to reduce food waste:

• Canada pledged to consult on strategies in the Strategy on Short-lived Climate Pollutants to reduce avoidable food waste within the country. This will help to reduce methane emissions from Canadian landfills.
• The government has implemented a Food Policy for Canada, which is a movement towards a more sustainable food system.
• In February 2019, the government brought together several experts from different sectors to share ideas and discuss opportunities for measuring and reducing food loss and waste across the food supply chain.

During the 2022 Quebec general election, Québec solidaire party spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois stated that ending food waste in Quebec would be a priority of the party if they were in government. The party seeks to cut food waste by 50% by mandating large businesses and institutions to give unsold food to groups that would distribute the food, or to businesses that would process the food.

China

In 2015 the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported that in big cities there was 17 to 18 million tons of food waste, enough to feed over 30 million people. About 25% of the waste was staple foods and about 18% from meat.

In August 2020 the Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping said the amount of food waste was shocking and distressing. A local authority campaign "Operation empty plate" (Chinese: 光盘行动; pinyin: Guāngpán xíngdòng) was started to reduce waste, including encouraging food outlets to limit orders to one fewer main dish than the number of customers.

As of December 2020, a draft law is under consideration to penalise food outlets if they encourage or mislead customers to order excessive meals causing obvious waste, first with a warning and then fines of up to 10,000 yuan. It would allow restaurants to charge customers who leave excessive leftovers. Broadcasters-– radio, TV, or online – which produces publishes or disseminates the promotion of food waste, including overeating. who promote overeating or food waste could also be fined up to 100,000 yuan.

Denmark

According to Ministry of Environment (Denmark), over 700,000 tonnes per year of food is wasted every year in Denmark in the entire food value chain from farm to fork. Due to the work of activist Selina Juul's Stop Wasting Food movement, Denmark has achieved a national reduction in food waste by 25% in 5 years (2010–2015).

France

In France, approximately 1.3–1.9 million tonnes of food waste is produced every year, or between 20 and 30 kilograms per person per year. Out of the 10 million tonnes of food lost or wasted in the country, 7.1 million tonnes are wasted, with only 11% coming from supermarkets. This costs the French government €16 billion per year. In France, food waste emits 15.3 million tonnes of CO₂, which represents 3% of the country's total CO₂ emission. In response to this issue, in 2016, France became the first country in the world to pass a unanimous legislation that bans supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food. Instead, supermarkets are expected to donate such food to charities and food banks. In addition to donating food, many businesses claim to prevent food waste by selling soon-to-be wasted products at discounted prices. The National Pact Against Food Waste in France has outlined eleven measures to achieve a food waste reduction by half by 2025.

Hungary

According to the research of the Hungarian national food waste prevention programme, Project Wasteless, hosted by the National Food Chain Safety Office, an average Hungarian consumer generated 68 kg food waste annually in 2016, and 49% of this amount could have been prevented (avoidable food waste). The research team replicated the study in 2019, According to the second measurement, food waste generated by the Hungarian households was estimated to be 65.5 kg per capita annually. Between the two periods, a 4% decrease was observed, despite significant economic expansion, likely due to the very intense media campaign of Project Wasteless. COVID-19 significantly affected the food waste behaviour of Hungarians: while the total food waste basically did not change, the edible (avoidable) and inedible (unavoidable) fractions show a particular transformation. Spending more time at home the discarded leftovers were reduced, resulting in a drop from 32 to 25 kg/capita/year in avoidable food waste, while home cooking became more prevalent, contributing to a significant rise in the amount of unavoidable food waste from 31 to 36 kg/capita/year. The last measurement in 2022 reports 59.9 kg/capita/year food waste production in the households, and the avoidable food waste part of it is 24 kg (40%). This indicates a reduction of 12% in total food waste and a reduction of 27% in avoidable food waste since the first measurement in 2016.

In 2021, The Hungarian Parliament passed a law dealing with food waste.

Italy

According to REDUCE project, which produced the first baseline dataset for Italy based on official EU methodological framework, food waste is 530 g per person per week at household stage (only edible fraction); food waste in school canteens corresponds to 586 g per pupil per week; retail food waste per capita, per year corresponds to 2.9 kg.

Netherlands

According to Meeusen & Hagelaar (2008), between 30% and 50% of all food produced was estimated to be lost or thrown away at that time in the Netherlands, while a 2010 Agriculture Ministry (LNV) report stated that the Dutch population wasted 'at least 9.5m tonnes of food per year, worth at least €4.4bn.' In 2019, three studies into food waste in households in the Netherlands commissioned by the LNV were conducted, showing that the average household waste per capita had been reduced from 48 kilograms of "solid food (including dairy products, fats, sauces and soups)" in 2010, to 41.2 kilograms in 2016, to 34.3 kilograms in 2019. The waste of liquid foods (excluding beer and wine, first measured in 2019) that ended up in the sewer through sinks or toilets was analysed to have decreased from 57.3 litres per capita in 2010 to 45.5 litres in 2019.

New Zealand

Food waste in New Zealand is one of the many environmental issues that is being addressed by industry, individuals and government.

The total volume of food wasted in New Zealand is not known, as food waste has not been investigated at all stages of the supply chain. However, research has been undertaken into household food waste, retail food waste, and food waste in the hospitality sector. The Environment Select Committee held a briefing into food waste in 2018.

Research done on household food waste in New Zealand found that larger households and households with more young people created more food waste. The average household in this case study put 40% of food waste into the rubbish.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, it is estimated that they lose and waste about 40% their annual food production. The numbers contribute to 5% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. On the other side of this, it is also estimated that 14.5 million Nigerians suffer from food insecurity while 12.5 million remain hungry as well. Reports from Nigeria's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that approximately 700,000 tons of tomatoes rot at waste every year.

Singapore

In Singapore, 788,600 tonnes (776,100 long tons; 869,300 short tons) of food was wasted in 2014. Of that, 101,400 tonnes (99,800 long tons; 111,800 short tons) were recycled. Since Singapore has limited agriculture ability, the country spent about S$14.8 billion (US$10.6 billion) on importing food in 2014. US$1.4 billion of it ends up being wasted, or 13 percent.

On January 1, 2020, Singapore implemented the Zero Waste Masterplan which aims to reduce Singapore's daily waste production by 30 percent. The project also aims to extend the lifespan of the Semakau Landfill, Singapore's only landfill, beyond 2025. As a direct result of the project, food waste dropped to 665,000 tonnes, showing a significant decrease from 2017's all-time high of 810,000 tonnes.

United Kingdom

Food waste in the United Kingdom is a subject of environmental, and socioeconomic concern that has received widespread media coverage and been met with varying responses from government. Since 1915, food waste has been identified as a considerable problem and has been the subject of ongoing media attention, intensifying with the launch of the "Love Food, Hate Waste" campaign in 2007. Food waste has been discussed in newspaper articles, news reports and television programmes, which have increased awareness of it as a public issue. To tackle waste issues, encompassing food waste, the government-funded "Waste & Resources Action Programme" (WRAP) was created in 2000.

A significant proportion of food waste is produced by the domestic household, which in 2022, created 6.4 million tonnes of food waste (95kg or £250 per person); most of this was made up of salads and fresh vegetables. A majority of food waste food is avoidable,^[d] with the rest being divided almost equally into foods which are unavoidable, due to being inedible (e.g. tea bags) and those that are unavoidable due to preference (e.g. bread crusts) or cooking type (e.g. potato skins).

Reducing the amount of food waste has been deemed critical if the UK is to meet international targets on climate change, limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and obligations under the European Landfill Directive to reduce biodegradable waste going to landfill. Equally great emphasis has been placed on the reduction of food waste as a means of ending hunger. In the context of the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, food waste was discussed at the 34th G8 summit in Hokkaidō, Japan. The then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said of the issue: "We must do more to deal with unnecessary demand, such as by all of us doing more to cut our food waste".

In June 2009, the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced the Government's "War on waste", a programme aimed at reducing Britain's food waste. The proposed plans under the scheme included: scrapping best before and limiting sell by labels on food, creating new food packaging sizes, constructing more "on-the-go" recycling points and unveiling five flagship anaerobic digestion plants. Two years after its launch, the "Love Food, Hate Waste" campaign was claiming it had already prevented 137,000 tonnes of waste and, through the help it had given to over 2,000,000 households, had made savings of £300,000,000. Successive governments have continued to tackle food waste in the UK, with a number of objectives specified in the December 2018 "Resources and Waste Strategy" and in 2023 the UK became part of the UN Food System Summit Coalition, that seeks to half the amount of global food waste by 2030. By the end of March 2026, weekly food waste collections had been introduced by most councils, as a result of government policy, with exceptions occurring when existing waste contracts prevented this being possible.

In the UK, it was stated in 2007 that 6,700,000 tonnes (6,590,000 long tons; 7,390,000 short tons) per year of wasted food (purchased and edible food which is discarded) amounted to a cost of £10.2 billion each year. This represented costs of £250 to £400 a year per household. As of 2026, it was estimated that the UK generates approximately 9.5-9.6 tonnes of food waste annually and about 6.4 - 6.7 million tonnes is considered edible at the point of disposal.

United States

According to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), between 30 and 40 percent of food in the U.S. is wasted. Estimates of food waste in the United States range from 35 million tons to 103 million tons. In a study done by National Geographic in 2014, Elizabeth Royte indicated more than 30 percent of food in the United States, valued at $162 billion annually, is not eaten. The University of Arizona conducted a study in 2004 that indicated that 14% to 15% of United States edible food is untouched or unopened, amounting to $43 billion worth of discarded, but edible, food. In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture came forth with estimations from the Economic Research Service that approximates food waste in the United States to be equivalent to 141 trillion calories.

USDA data from 2010 shows that 26% of fish, meat, and poultry were thrown away at the retail and consumer level. Since then, meat production has increased by more than 10%. Data scientist Harish Sethu says this means that billions of animals are raised and slaughtered only to end up in a landfill.

Pakistan

In general, the Southern Asia region ranks first in terms of highest amount of food waste per household, with an average of 19 kg per capita per year to 212 kilograms per capita per year. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) shows that there is an estimate of 30.7 million tonnes of household food waste in Pakistan. The main cause of food waste in Pakistan is caused by people saving food for further use in the future, although they fail to consume in later time. They prefer to eat fresh foods, and causes a lack of interest, mismanagement of meals, lack of time and eating which causes an ongoing cycle. The high-income households pose more of threat, due to the fact that they spend more on food and risk poor consumption management, leading to more food waste.

Zimbabwe

Located in the Sub-Saharan African region, Zimbabwe shows an estimate of nearly 800,000 tonnes of household waste. According to the United Nations Human Settlement Programme, high income household waste roughly 0.41 kg/capita/day, where in comparison to low income household with only 0.28 kg/capita/day of waste. Food waste remains the main cause of waste, in comparison to other waste such as plastic, paper, glass and metal.

Impact

On the environment

According to United Nations, about a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is linked to food. Empirical evidence at the global level on the environmental footprints for major commodity groups suggests that, if the aim is to reduce land use, the primary focus should be on meat and animal products, which account for 60 percent of the land footprint associated with food loss and waste. If the aim is to target water scarcity, cereals and pulses make the largest contribution (more than 70 percent), followed by fruits and vegetables. In terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with food loss and waste, the biggest contribution is again from cereals and pulses (more than 60 percent), followed by roots, tubers and oil-bearing crops. However, the environmental footprint for different commodities also varies across regions and countries, due, among other things, to differences in crop yields and production techniques. According to the IPCC 6th Assessment Report, the reduction of food waste would be beneficial for improving availability of resources such as "water, land-use, energy consumption" and the overall reduction of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

On food insecurity

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food". Food waste and loss remains in contrast to widespread global food insecurity. For example, food loss in Africa is estimated to be twice the amount of calories needed to address deficiencies, and the surplus of food consumed in the United States due to physiological overconsumption could meet the caloric needs of people facing hunger in Africa.

Prevention

In 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference nations adopted an agreement for preserving biodiversity, including a commitment to reduce food waste by 50% by the year 2030.

According to FAO's The State of Food and Agriculture 2019, the case for reducing food loss and waste includes gains that society can reap but which individual actors may not take into account, namely: (i) increased productivity and economic growth; (ii) improved food security and nutrition; and (iii) mitigation of environmental impacts of losing and wasting food, in particular terms of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG emissions as well as lowering pressure on land and water resources. The last two societal gains, in particular, are typically seen as externalities of reducing food loss and waste.

Response to the problem of food waste at all social levels has varied hugely, including campaigns from advisory and environmental groups, and concentrated media attention on the subject.

As suggested by the food waste hierarchy, prevention and reuse pathways for human consumption have the highest priority levels for food waste treatment. The general approach to food waste reduction comprise two main pathways: prevention and valorisation. Prevention of food waste infers all actions that reduce food production and ultimately prevent food from being produced in vain, such as food donations or re-processing into new food products. Valorisation on the other hand comprise actions that recover the materials, nutrients or energy in food waste, for instance by producing animal feed, fuel or energy from the "wastes" making it as potential resource.

Multiple studies have studied the environmental benefits of food waste prevention measures, including food donations, recovery of unharvested vegetables for re-use in food production, re-processing of surplus bread for beer production, and producing chutney or juice from leftovers. Food waste can also be used to produce multiple high-value products, such as a fish oil substitute for food or feed use via marine micro algae, without compromising the ability to produce energy via biogas. The general consensus currently suggest that reducing food waste by either prevention or valorisation, for human consumption, infers higher environmental benefits compared to the lower priority levels, such as energy production or disposal.

Food rescue

There are multiple initiatives that rescue food that would otherwise not be consumed by humans anymore. The food can come from supermarkets, restaurants or private households for example. Such initiatives are:

• food banks,
• online platforms like Too Good To Go and Olio,
• public foodsharing shelves like those from foodsharing.de and
• dumpster diving.

Consumer marketing

One way of dealing with food waste is to reduce its creation. Consumers can reduce spoilage by planning their food shopping, avoiding potentially wasteful spontaneous purchases, and storing foods properly (and also preventing a too large buildup of perishable stock). Widespread educational campaigns have been shown to be an effective way to reduce food waste.

A British campaign called "Love Food, Hate Waste" has raised awareness about preventative measures to address food waste for consumers. Through advertisements, information on food storage and preparation and in-store education, the UK observed a 21% decrease in avoidable household food waste over the course of 5 years.

Another potential solution is for "smart packaging" which would indicate when food is spoiled more precisely than expiration dates currently do, for example with temperature-sensitive ink, plastic that changes color when exposed to oxygen, or gels that change color with time.

An initiative in Curitiba, Brazil, called Cambio Verde allows farmers to provide surplus produce (produce they would otherwise discard due to too low prices) to people that bring glass and metal to recycling facilities (to encourage further waste reduction). In Europe, the Food Surplus Entrepreneurs Network (FSE Network), coordinates a network of social businesses and nonprofit initiatives with the goal to spread best practices to increase the use of surplus food and reduction of food waste.

An overarching consensus exists on the substantial environmental benefits of food waste reduction. However, rebound effects may cause substitutive consumption as a result of economic savings made from food waste prevention, potentially offsetting more than half of the avoided emissions (depending on the type of food and price elasticities involved).

Cultural practices

In many cultures globally, food preservation techniques have been practiced since the beginning of time in order to diminish the amount of food being wasted to maximize survival. Nowadays, the overproduction of food has led to massive amounts of food waste each year. It is crucial to acknowledge these cultures that have many food preservation techniques, which can reduce overall food waste in households.

In Africa, food losses are a major issue, which is mainly due to poor food preservation practices. For example, the sub-Saharan Africa results in more than a 40% of food loss during post-harvest and processing levels. The Journal of Food Security explores an important way to increase food security is to recognize, promote, and utilize African indigenous knowledge, skillset, and practices that involve food processing, preservation and storage. In many parts of Africa, a majority of the agriculture produced is processed and preserved using indigenous knowledge and practices. Some of these indigenous food processing techniques in some parts of Nigeria include sun drying, pounding with locally made mortar, roasting and frying food, grinding with stone, early harvest with hand, use of sacks, burying in moistened soil, mixture of red pepper, wood ash application and placing under fire.

The most popular techniques for indigenous methods are sun drying and fermentation. For example, fermentation of food produces acids that prevent the growth of organisms, which then leads to no spoilage as a result. This technique has been used for generations to preserve food for consumption for future use, and minimize food security. It is a traditional way of preserving vegetable surpluses, where cassava and sweet potatoes are the most commonly fermented vegetables in Africa. In Sudan, meat from sheep, goats, cow, and camel are cut in long pieces, salted and garnished with coriander powder, which is then dried for around a week. The drying processed gives the product called "shermout".

Italy also possesses many cultural practices that have been passed from generations in order to prevent food waste. Drying, fermentation, alcoholic fermentation, and addition of salt are also common preservation techniques for Italians. For example, fruits are not only eaten fresh, but they are also dried in order to be preserved for out of season consumption, or as food ingredients. Another example includes how every year Italians gather within their families to make tomato sauce. This is practiced by heating tomato sauce for a few hours, and placing them in airtight containers. This ensures sauce that can be used throughout colder seasons, and minimizes waste from the fresh tomatoes leading into the colder weather.

Food education and awareness

Education and awareness for food waste is an also easy and effective measure to minimize food loss in households. A food waste reduction study at primary schools shows the change in behaviour from pre-intervention of educational awareness of food waste to afterwards. One of the participants had mentioned how she threw away her snacks when the ration got too big for her. Although, after the intervention, all the participants had mentioned that they either ate the full snack, or kept leftovers to take at home. Researchers found that educational activities increased students' awareness of portion sizes, leftover management, and the overall environmental impact of food waste. The intervention included classroom sessions, individual activities, small group activities and class group activities to help children recognize the value of food and understand the consequences of wasting it. The authors of the study concluded that educational awareness are among the most effective strategies for reducing food waste in educational institutions .

Collection

In areas where the waste collection is a public function, food waste is usually managed by the same governmental organization as other waste collection. Most food waste is combined with general waste at the source. Separate collections, also known as source-separated organics, have the advantage that food waste can be disposed of in ways not applicable to other wastes. In the United States, companies find higher and better uses for large commercial generators of food and beverage waste.

From the end of the 19th century through the middle of the 20th century, many municipalities collected food waste (called "garbage" as opposed to "trash") separately. This was typically disinfected by steaming and fed to pigs, either on private farms or in municipal piggeries.

Separate curbside collection of food wastes is now being revived in some areas. To keep collection costs down and raise the rate of food waste segregation, some local authorities, especially in Europe, have introduced "alternate weekly collections" of biodegradable waste (including, e.g., garden waste), which enable a wider range of recyclable materials to be collected at reasonable cost, and improve their collection rates. However, they result in a two-week wait before the waste will be collected. The criticism is that particularly during hot weather, food waste rots and stinks, and attracts vermin. Waste container design is therefore essential to making such operations feasible. Curbside collection of food waste is also done in the U.S., some ways by combining food scraps and yard waste together. Several states in the U.S. have introduced a yard waste ban, not accepting leaves, brush, trimmings, etc. in landfills. Collection of food scraps and yard waste combined is then recycled and composted for reuse.

Disposal

As alternatives to landfill, food waste can be composted to produce soil and fertilizer, fed to animals or insects, or used to produce energy or fuel. Some wasted fruit parts can also be biorefined to extract useful substances for the industry (i.e. succinic acid from orange peels, lycopene from tomato peels).

Landfills and greenhouse gases

Dumping food waste in a landfill causes odour as it decomposes, attracts flies and vermin, and has the potential to add biological oxygen demand (BOD) to the leachate. The European Union Landfill Directive and Waste Regulations, like regulations in other countries, enjoin diverting organic wastes away from landfill disposal for these reasons. Starting in 2015, organic waste from New York City restaurants will be banned from landfills.

In countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, food scraps constitute around 19% of the waste buried in landfills, where it biodegrades very easily and produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Methane, or CH₄, is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas that is released into the air, also produced by landfills in the U.S. Although methane spends less time in the atmosphere (12 years) than CO₂, it is more efficient at trapping radiation. It is 25 times greater to impact climate change than CO₂ in a 100-year period. Humans accounts over 60% of methane emissions globally.

Fodder and insect feed

Large quantities of fish, meat, dairy and grain are discarded at a global scale annually, when they can be used for things other than human consumption. The feeding of food scraps or slop to domesticated animals such as pigs or chickens is, historically, the most common way of dealing with household food waste. The animals turn roughly two thirds of their ingested food into gas or fecal waste, while the last third is digested and repurposed as meat or dairy products. There are also different ways of growing produce and feeding livestock that could ultimately reduce waste.

Bread and other cereal products discarded from the human food chain could be used to feed chickens. Chickens have traditionally been given mixtures of waste grains and milling by-products in a mixture called chicken scratch. As well, giving table scraps to backyard chickens is a large part of that movement's claim to sustainability, though not all backyard chicken growers recommend it. Ruminants and pigs have also been fed bakery waste for a long time.

Certain food waste (such as flesh) can also be used as feed in maggot farming. The maggots can then be fed to other animals. In China, some food waste is being processed by feeding it to cockroaches.

Composting

Food waste can be biodegraded by composting, and reused to fertilize soil. Composting is the aerobic process completed by microorganisms in which the bacteria break down the food waste into simpler organic materials that can then be used in soil. By redistributing nutrients and high microbial populations, compost reduces water runoff and soil erosion by enhancing rainfall penetration, which has been shown to reduce the loss of sediment, nutrients, and pesticide losses to streams by 75–95%.

Composting food waste leads to a decrease in the quantity of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. In landfills, organic food waste decomposes anaerobically, producing methane gas that is emitted into the atmosphere. When this biodegradable waste is composted, it decomposes aerobically and does not produce methane, but instead produces organic compost that can then be utilized in agriculture. Recently, the city of New York has begun to require that restaurants and food-producing companies begin to compost their leftover food. Another instance of composting progress is a Wisconsin-based company called WasteCap, who is dedicated towards aiding local communities create composting plans.

Municipal Food Waste (MFW) can be composted to create this product of organic fertilizer, and many municipalities choose to do this citing environmental protection and economic efficiency as reasoning. Transporting and dumping waste in landfills requires both money and room in the landfills that have very limited available space. One municipality who chose to regulate MFW is San Francisco, who requires citizens to separate compost from trash on their own, instituting fines for non-compliance at $100 for individual homes and $500 for businesses. The city's economic reasoning for this controversial mandate is supported by their estimate that one business can save up to $30,000 annually on garbage disposal costs with the implementation of the required composting.

Europe has shown significant efforts in composting, with a total of approximately 2000 composting plants. For example, Italy has 240 full operating plants implemented. In 2015, Italian municipalities collected approximately 6.1 million tonnes of food and garden waste, which totals for 100 kg/inhabitant/year. Italy is one of the countries leading in composting in Europe. Around 35 million of Italian residents are involved in the collection of biowaste.

Home composting

Composting is an economical and environmentally conscious step many homeowners could take to reduce their impact on landfill waste. Instead of food scraps and spoiled food taking up space in trashcans or stinking up the kitchen before the bag is full, it could be put outside and broken down by worms and added to garden beds.

There also exists an opportunity for increased home composting via social contagion, where people in a network can learn new behaviors such as home composting, and the new behavior can spread spontaneously through the group. If enough people are influenced, the community can reach a tipping point, in which a majority of people transition to a new habit; a 2018 study published in Nature claims that with only 25 per cent of a population, a minority perspective was able to overturn the majority.

Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion produces both useful gaseous products and a solid fibrous "compostable" material. Anaerobic digestion plants can provide energy from waste by burning the methane created from food and other organic wastes to generate electricity, defraying the plants' costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that the use of anaerobic composting allows for large amounts of food waste to avoid the landfills. Instead of producing these greenhouse gasses into the environment from being in a landfill, the gasses can alternatively be harnessed in these facilities for reuse.

Since this process of composting produces high volumes of biogas, there are potential safety issues such as explosion and poisoning. These interactions require proper maintenance and personal protective equipment is utilized. Certain U.S. states, such as Oregon, have implemented the requirement for permits on such facilities, based on the potential danger to the population and surrounding environment.

Food waste coming through the sanitary sewers from garbage disposal units is treated along with other sewage and contributes to sludge.

Commercial liquid food waste

Commercially, food waste in the form of wastewater coming from commercial kitchens' sinks, dishwashers and floor drains is collected in holding tanks called grease interceptors to minimize flow to the sewer system. This often foul-smelling waste contains both organic and inorganic waste (chemical cleaners, etc.) and may also contain hazardous hydrogen sulfide gases. It is referred to as fats, oils, and grease (FOG) waste or more commonly "brown grease" (versus "yellow grease", which is fryer oil that is easily collected and processed into biodiesel) and is an overwhelming problem, especially in the US, for the aging sewer systems. Per the US EPA, sanitary sewer overflows also occur due to the improper discharge of FOGs to the collection system. Overflows discharge 3–10 billion U.S. gallons (11–38 million cubic meters) of untreated wastewater annually into local waterways, and up to 5,500 illnesses annually are due to exposure to contamination from sanitary sewer overflows into recreational waters.