Households responsible for 54% of EU food waste in 2022, Eurostat figures reveal

The EU generated 59.2 million metric tons of food waste in 2022, including edible and indelible parts, latest Eurostat figures indicate. Additionally, nearly 132 kg of food per inhabitant was wasted the same year. Households contributed to 54% of food waste, accounting for 72 kg per inhabitant, while the remaining 46% was waste generated upwards in the food supply chain. This includes 19% by the manufacture of food products and beverages (25 kg per inhabitant), 11% by restaurants and food services (15 kg per inhabitant), 8% in the retail and other distribution of food (11 kg per inhabitant) and 8% in the primary production (10 kg per inhabitant).

Eurostat estimated the EU aggregates based on data provided by the reporting countries, which excluded Greece, Spain, Lithuania and Romania. 

Understanding waste framework

The results are based on the food waste reporting obligation established in the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) by sector of activity according to the statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE rev. 2) and by households.

F&B manufacturing accounted for 19% of food waste generation, with 11% contribution from restaurants and food services (Image credit: Eurostat).According to Eurostat, food waste consists of parts of food intended to be ingested (edible food) and parts of food not intended to be ingested (inedible food). Food waste is any food that has either entered the food supply chain, has then been removed or discarded from the food supply chain or is meant to be processed as waste at the final consumption stage.

At the EU level in 2022, household food waste represented 32 million metric tons of fresh mass, followed by the processing and manufacturing sector, where the amount of measured food waste was slightly more than 11 million metric tons of fresh mass. 

The remaining share, slightly more than a quarter of the total food waste, was from the primary production sector (below 5 million metric tons), restaurants and food services (below 7 million metric tons) and retail and other distribution of food sectors (slightly below 5 million metric tons). 

Additionally, in the supply and consumption sectors, food waste generation may represent 10% of food supplied in the EU, state Eurostat figures. To arrive at this assumption, Eurostat “roughly estimated” the food placed on the market from the 2022 FAO data on food supply quantity provided in kg per inhabitant, and compared it with food waste amounts in the supply and consumption sectors.

Why measure food waste?

Food waste measurement has a key role in the strategies for reducing food waste, which has enormous potential for diminishing the resources used along the whole food supply chain, Eurostat underscores. 

Food waste reduction can help farmers save money and decrease the environmental impact of food production.Reducing food waste would help farmers, companies and consumers to save money and decrease the environmental impact of food production, transport, processing and consumption.

Preventing food waste and adopting a more sustainable production and consumption model is a priority area in the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan due to its environmental and economic impacts and called on the Commission to establish a multi-stakeholder platform dedicated to food waste prevention.

This led to the establishment of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste in 2016. The platform supports the Commission in its work to adopt EU guidelines to facilitate food donations and develop food waste measurement methodology.