Quantitative and qualitative assessment of food waste generated in households

A statistical study was conducted aimed at establishing quantitative and qualitative indicators of food waste, which is required in the household of families. For this purpose, a survey of 400 families from 4 cities was conducted: Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo. The questionnaires contained questions of socio-demographic data, as well as questions on food waste and a diary of observations of waste formation. Data on the amount of food waste, as well as their composition, were obtained. The analysis of the obtained data is carried out. It was found that one family generates an average of 1.6 kg of food waste per week, which is equivalent to 82.4 kg of waste per year. In terms of the average number of people in one family, a value of 29.9 kg of food waste per year per person was obtained. At the same time, this indicator varies in a fairly wide range depending on families. In addition to the quantitative assessment of food waste, a qualitative assessment was also carried out. To do this, a waste database was compiled, divided into 3 groups: protein waste, fat waste and carbohydrate waste. The data processing of the questionnaires was carried out using the Microsoft Excel program. After that, the arithmetic mean value was calculated for all questionnaires. According to the results of the analysis, it was found that the largest share of household food waste is accounted for by carbohydrate products (about 48 %). The proportion of fat and protein products is approximately the same and amounts to 27 and 25 %, respectively. According to the results of the survey, the most common cause of food waste in the household of families is food spoilage. The cooking error in the total proportion is only 6 %.