Food waste volume and composition in Helsinki

Abstract

The focus of this mixed waste sorting research is to produce detailed information on amounts and types of avoidable solid food waste in households in Helsinki area. Also service sector (schools, offices, hospitals) and grocery stores were investigated. Different types of housing were studied separately (number of apartments in the house: 1, 2-9, 10-20 and more than 20 apartments). We defined the avoidable food waste as all food or food material that could have been eaten if handled or stored differently, in addition we measured unavoidable food waste like coffee grounds and food preparation waste. When extrapolated amounts for one year the average amount of avoidable food waste year was 18kg/pp/year and vary between 15kg/pp/year to 23 kg/pp/year depending on type of the housing.