Food waste volume and composition in households in Greece

The purpose of this paper is the presentation of the results compiled from self weighing of household food waste and self filling of waste collection diaries that took place in Greece. A diary was compiled and given to 101 urban households in various areas of the country. The participants were asked to weigh and write down in the diary every food item wasted in their households for two full weeks (i.e., 14 days). The total per capita food waste generation in Greece is estimated to be 76.1 (+/- 68.3) kg/inh-y. This figure is divided into the avoided food waste fraction which equals to 25.9 (+/- 34.9) kg/inh-y, and the unavoidable fraction which is estimated to be 50.2 (+/- 47.1) kg/inh-y. The use of diaries for recording food that is thrown away from households is a methodology that underestimates the food wasted in households because households tend to be cautious when they know that they have to weigh and report the amount of food that they throw away. The current research is the first of its kind, presenting actual field data for food waste generation by households in Greece.