Organic waste is a major part of the waste stream, from food discarded by households and businesses to biowaste collected by municipalities. In 2022, the world generated 1.05 billion tonnes of food waste, while biowaste was the largest category of EU municipal waste in 2023 at 67.4 million tonnes. The figures below show how organic waste is generated and managed across several geographies and measurement periods.
Contents
- Global food waste generation
- Household food waste by income group
- Organic waste in the European Union
- EU recycling, composting, and landfill trends
- United States organics recycling
- U.S. wasted-food management pathways
- England household organic recycling
Global food waste generation
The United Nations Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 Key Messages measured food waste across retail, food service, and households in 2022. The report found 1.05 billion tonnes of food waste worldwide. That amount represented 19% of food available to consumers at those three stages.
Households were the largest measured source, accounting for 631 million tonnes, or 60% of the global total. Food service accounted for 290 million tonnes, while retail accounted for 131 million tonnes. These figures describe food waste specifically, which is a major organic-waste stream but does not cover every type of organic material.
The UNEP report also estimated average food waste at 79 kilograms per person in 2022. Households wasted at least 1 billion meals of edible food per day worldwide during the same year. Food loss and waste generated an estimated 8–10% of global greenhouse-gas emissions in the report’s 2022 estimate.
| Global food-waste measure | 2022 figure |
|---|---|
| Total food waste | 1.05 billion tonnes |
| Household food waste | 631 million tonnes |
| Food-service waste | 290 million tonnes |
| Retail waste | 131 million tonnes |
| Share of food available to consumers | 19% |
| Average per person | 79 kilograms |
Source: UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024 Key Messages.
Household food waste by income group
UNEP’s observed household estimates for 2022 show relatively similar household food-waste levels across three income groups. High-income countries averaged 81 kilograms per capita per year. Upper-middle-income countries averaged 88 kilograms, and lower-middle-income countries averaged 86 kilograms.
The difference between the highest and lowest observed household averages was 7 kilograms per capita per year. This comparison is based on the observed estimates reported by UNEP for these income groups; it should not be read as a universal value for every country or household.
| Income group | Observed household food waste, 2022 estimates |
|---|---|
| High-income countries | 81 kilograms per capita per year |
| Upper-middle-income countries | 88 kilograms per capita per year |
| Lower-middle-income countries | 86 kilograms per capita per year |
The available UNEP estimate for food-service waste in high-income countries was 21 kilograms per capita per year in 2022. Because household and food-service figures describe different sectors, they should be compared as separate measurements rather than combined into a single per-person estimate.
Source: UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024 Key Messages.
Organic waste in the European Union
Eurostat reported 234.4 million tonnes of EU municipal solid waste in 2023. Biowaste was the largest municipal-waste fraction, at 67.4 million tonnes or 28.8% of the total. Eurostat’s biowaste category includes bio-waste separated and recycled at source under the cited municipal-waste definitions.
The next largest categories were mixed waste at 47.5 million tonnes, or 20.3%; “other” waste at 33.9 million tonnes, or 14.5%; and paper and cardboard at 32.6 million tonnes, or 13.9%. Plastic accounted for 17.5 million tonnes, or 7.5%.
Biowaste was the largest municipal-waste category in 17 EU countries in 2023. Romania reported the highest biowaste share among the three EU countries above 40%, at 58.4%. Greece reported 42.6%, and Cyprus reported 41.2%.
Country composition comparisons are not perfectly uniform: Eurostat cautioned that eight countries did not apply full compositional analysis to mixed waste. The percentages therefore provide reported national comparisons within the limitations of the underlying methods.
Source: Eurostat, Municipal waste statistics.
EU recycling, composting, and landfill trends
Eurostat’s long-term series shows a substantial change in EU municipal-waste treatment between 1995 and 2024. Municipal waste sent to landfill fell from 121 million tonnes in 1995 to 50 million tonnes in 2024, a 59% decline. On a per-person basis, landfilled waste fell from 286 kilograms to 110 kilograms.
Incineration moved in the opposite direction, rising from 30 million tonnes in 1995 to 61 million tonnes in 2024. The corresponding per-person figures increased from 70 to 135 kilograms. These are treatment trends for EU municipal waste overall, not a separate composting-only series for food waste.
Material recycling rose from 23 million tonnes in 1995 to 67 million tonnes in 2024. Composting increased from 14 million tonnes to 45 million tonnes, a 215% increase. Together, material recycling and composting rose from 37 million tonnes to 111 million tonnes.
| EU municipal-waste treatment | 1995 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Landfill | 121 million tonnes | 50 million tonnes |
| Incineration | 30 million tonnes | 61 million tonnes |
| Material recycling | 23 million tonnes | 67 million tonnes |
| Composting | 14 million tonnes | 45 million tonnes |
| Material recycling plus composting | 37 million tonnes | 111 million tonnes |
The share of EU municipal waste recycled overall rose from 19% in 1995 to 48% in 2024. Separately, Eurostat reported 511 kilograms of municipal waste generated per person in 2023, with 246 kilograms per person recycled. The 2023 per-person figures and the 1995–2024 treatment series use different stated periods and should be kept distinct.
Source: Eurostat, Municipal waste statistics; Eurostat, Municipal waste down by second consecutive year.
United States organics recycling
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported 292.4 million short tons of municipal solid waste generated in the United States in 2018. Almost 94 million short tons were recycled and composted. The recycling rate including composting was 32.1% in 2018, compared with 34.7% in 2015.
Food and yard trimmings composted increased from 23.4 million short tons in 2015 to 24.9 million short tons in 2018. EPA also reported U.S. composting at 0.42 pounds per person per day in 2018. Food and other municipal-solid-waste organics composting amounted to 2.6 million short tons, or 4.1%, in 2018.
The EPA figures are the latest values in the cited series, not 2026 measurements. They use U.S. municipal-solid-waste definitions and should not be directly combined with UNEP food-waste totals or Eurostat biowaste totals.
Source: EPA, National Overview: Facts and Figures on Materials, Wastes and Recycling.
U.S. wasted-food management pathways
The EPA’s 2019 Wasted Food Report estimated that the U.S. retail, food service, and residential sectors generated 66.2 million short tons of wasted food. Households and food service providers each contributed 40% of that total, while food retailers contributed 20%. The estimate equaled 349 pounds of food waste managed per person across the measured pathways.
Landfills received 59.8% of wasted food from those three sectors. Composting managed 3.3 million short tons, or 5%, of the measured retail, food-service, residential, and food-bank streams. Only 3.7% of residential wasted food was composted.
Food service generated 26.7 million short tons in 2019. Of that food-service stream, 72% was landfilled and 8% was composted. Food manufacturing and processing generated an additional 40.1 million short tons of wasted food in 2019.
EPA noted that some 2019 composting and anaerobic-digestion tonnages may be underestimated because facilities for which data were not found were not extrapolated. These estimates therefore describe the report’s measured pathways and limitations rather than a complete count of every possible facility.
England household organic recycling
England treated 21.9 million tonnes of household waste in 2024. Within that total, 16.2% was classified as other organics. Separately collected food waste sent for recycling rose from 501 thousand tonnes in 2023 to 535 thousand tonnes in 2024.
Separately collected food waste represented 5.6% of household waste sent for recycling in 2024, compared with 1.3% in 2010. Other organic waste sent for recycling totaled 3.5 million tonnes in 2024, down 2.3% from 2023. Other organics accounted for 36.9% of household waste recycling in 2024.
The broader organic-recycling total was 4.1 million tonnes in 2024/25, down 2.4% from 4.2 million tonnes in 2023/24. The annual periods are different from the calendar-year figures for separately collected food waste, so they should not be treated as interchangeable measurements.
Across England’s 321 local authorities, household waste recycling rates ranged from 17.0% to 63.9% in 2024/25. That range shows the spread between local authority results, not a national average.
Source: GOV.UK, Local authority collected waste management – annual results 2024/25.