The United Nations Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 estimates that households, food-service businesses, and retailers wasted about 1.05 billion metric tonnes of food in 2022. That equals 132 kilograms per person and roughly 19% of the food available to consumers. The estimate includes both edible and inedible parts, so it should not be described as 19% of all edible food being deliberately thrown away.

 

Households accounted for the largest share of that consumer-level total, followed by food service and retail. This is a global estimate, not a US-only number and not a measure of farm or manufacturing losses.

 

UNEP and FAO estimate that food loss and waste together generate 8–10% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. “Food loss” generally covers stages before retail, while “food waste” covers retail, food service, and households. The 19% consumer-waste figure and the 8–10% emissions figure measure different things and should never be used interchangeably.

 

UNEP says food loss and waste costs the global economy more than $1 trillion each year. That is a global economic estimate, not a household grocery bill. For a consumer-level US figure, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimated in a report published April 2025 that wasted food costs the average US consumer about $728 per year. For a household of four, that is approximately $2,913 per year, or $56 per week. Those figures estimate the retail value of food bought and not eaten; they are not the cost of municipal waste collection.