Edible food waste from Norwegian households—Detailed food waste composition analysis among households in two different regions in Norway

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to get detailed data on amounts and composition of edible food waste from Norwegian households, based on detailed waste composition analyses from two municipalities/regions in Norway. The importance of age, number of persons and residence type of each household for the amount of waste was studied statistically. Residual waste from 220 households in Fredrikstad and Hallingdal was sorted and weighted specifically for each household, and analyzed for total waste, total food waste, edible food waste, food in original packaging and six types of food. The study showed that each household generated 8.86kg total waste per week, of which 3.76kg was food waste, 2.17kg edible food waste and 0.60kg edible food waste in original packaging. Fresh bakery products (mainly bread) constituted 27% of the edible food waste, fruits and vegetables 24%, left-overs of prepared food 22%, meat and fish 8%, dairy products 6% and other types of food 22%. There were significantly higher amounts of waste from the city of Fredrikstad than from the rural area of Hallingdal regarding total waste, food waste and edible waste, as well as fresh bakery products. In Fredrikstad city, no significant differences could be identified between different geographic areas, residence types or age groups, mostly due to variations between the samples and small sample sizes. Based in results from this study and a survey of more than 50 conventional waste composition analyses from Norwegian municipalities, the amount of edible food waste per capita in Norway was estimated as about 46.3kg/year.