Food waste

Food loss and waste is food that is discarded or otherwise lost uneaten. This occurs throughout the food system, during production, processing, distribution, retail and food service sales, and consumption. Overall, about one-third of the world's food is thrown away, and a huge amount of resources used in food production are wasted.

A 2021 meta-analysis by the United Nations Environment Programme estimated that global food waste amounted to 931 million tonnes annually across three sectors: 61 percent from households, 26 percent from food service and 13 percent from retail.

Back to Reducing Waste →

Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

LUNCHSCRAPS

Waste less, eat well — composting, food-waste and meal-prep guides, plus the kitchen tools to make it happen.

Get new guides by emailOccasional emails. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

InformationAbout Contact Privacy Policy Terms of Service Disclaimer Affiliate Disclosure Cookie Policy

Every entry, image, fact, and figure is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, used under public-domain and Creative Commons licenses. No content is AI-generated.