Household food waste generation in high-income countries: A scoping review and pooled analysis between 2010 and 2022
Courage Yaw Krah, Majid Bahramian, Paul Hynds, Anushree Priyadarshini
Abstract
Based on the high volume of research pertaining to household food waste (FW) generation, a significant proportion of existing studies present findings that lack comparability and general transferability, largely due to their confinement to individual countries or regions. Likewise, results frequently exhibit considerable variability and cross-study incongruities. Merging individual studies into broader scoping reviews can elucidate the underlying reasons for this variability between studies, enhance overall comparability and generalizability of findings, and subsequently expand overall applicability. The current scoping review and pooled analysis examined household FW generation data from high-income countries using the Population Concept Context (PCC) framework, identifying and analyzing empirical studies from 2010 to 2022. Overall, 56 studies from 24 countries were identified, resulting in a pooled mean FW volume of 42.86 kg/cap/yr. The Asia-Pacific region exhibited the highest mean FW volume (70.28 kg/cap/yr), while Europe had the lowest (34.45 kg/cap/yr). Within Europe, non-EU countries reported higher mean volumes (56.88 kg/cap/yr) than EU member states (34.33 kg/cap/yr). Methods involving self-measurement by householders recorded lower FW volumes compared to those measured by third parties (FW researchers). Fruits and vegetables were the most frequently discarded items, with a mean volume of 18.75 kg/cap/yr and 32.34% of total FW volumes. The presented review highlights the importance of considering study methodology, location, and FW composition when interpreting household FW data. It also serves a useful tool for designing household FW studies and improving the quality of data going forward.