The short answer

The world wasted about 1.05 billion tonnes of food in 2022, or around 132 kg per person.

UNEP says that was nearly one-fifth of all food available to consumers through homes, food service, and retail. Most of that waste did not happen in supermarkets. It happened at home.

That matters because home food waste feels small in the moment, but huge in the total. One forgotten yogurt is easy to ignore. A world full of forgotten yogurts, soft tomatoes, stale bread, and unlabeled leftovers is not.

The numbers that make this problem real

The latest UNEP reporting gives a much clearer picture than older guesses.

• 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted in 2022
• about 19% of food available to consumers was wasted
• 60% of that waste came from households
• 28% came from food service
• 12% came from retail

UNEP also says households wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022 while 783 million people were affected by hunger. The same global reporting also frames food waste as more than a trillion-dollar problem each year.

That is why food waste is not only a kitchen problem. It is also a resource, climate, and fairness problem.

What 132 kg per person actually means

Big global totals are hard to picture, so the per-person split is useful.

UNEP's estimate breaks the 132 kg per person roughly like this:

• 79 kg in households
• 36 kg in food service
• 17 kg in retail

That is the part worth slowing down for. Household waste alone is larger than retail and food service waste individually. So if someone wants the highest-leverage place to change daily habits, the kitchen is still the obvious place to start.

The EU and U.S. snapshots tell the same story

The same pattern shows up when you zoom in.

In the EU, Eurostat's 2023 estimate was about 130 kg of food waste per person, with households responsible for 53% of the total, or about 69 kg per person.

In the United States, USDA still uses the broad estimate that around 30% to 40% of the food supply goes uneaten.

These are not perfectly identical measurements, so they should not be treated like a neat apples-to-apples ranking. But they point in the same direction: homes are not a side story. They are the main story.

Why homes matter so much

A lot of people assume the biggest problem is stores throwing food away.

Stores do waste food. Restaurants do too. But UNEP's global breakdown shows homes are still the biggest part of the problem.

That means the main causes are often ordinary and familiar:

• buying for an ideal week instead of a real week
• forgetting what is already in the fridge
• misunderstanding date labels
• letting leftovers drift past their easy-use window
• storing fresh food where nobody sees it

This is useful news, not depressing news. If homes create a large share of the waste, homes can also reduce a large share of it.

Food loss and food waste are not the same thing

These phrases often get mixed together, but they describe different parts of the chain.

Food loss usually happens before food reaches the consumer, such as during harvest, storage, transport, or processing.

Food waste usually happens closer to the plate, especially in shops, restaurants, and homes.

That distinction matters because the solutions are different. Better cold chains and transport reduce food loss. Better planning, storage, and visibility reduce food waste.

Chefito lives mostly on that second side. It helps with the household decisions that happen after food gets home.

Why this is also a climate and money story

UNEP says food loss and waste are linked to about 8% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

So when food is wasted, people are not only losing the item itself. They are also wasting the land, water, transport, cooling, labor, and packaging behind it.

In everyday language, that means this:

• you lose money
• you lose time
• you lose storage space
• you waste the resources used to grow and move the food

This is why food waste feels bigger than the trash bin it ends up in.

It also explains why food waste is not only a sustainability issue. It is a budgeting issue. Every forgotten bag of greens or unopened yogurt is not just "waste." It is paid-for food that never became a meal.

Why people waste food at home

Most people do not waste food because they do not care.

They waste food because the system around the food is weak.

Common friction points look like this:

• no quick fridge check before shopping
• no use-first area
• no label on leftovers
• no plan for delicate produce
• no simple view of what is already open

Shame does not fix any of that. Better systems do.

The easiest first steps

If you want to waste less food, start with habits that work on busy days too.

• check the fridge before you shop
• keep one visible use-first shelf or box
• label leftovers the day they were made
• plan one rescue meal each week
• freeze food earlier instead of later

That is also why Chefito's workflow makes sense in practice:

• review inventory
• use the most urgent food first
• plan meals around what is already there
• shop only the gaps

These are small moves, but they target the exact places where home waste usually begins.

A gentle Chefito shortcut

If the hard part is not caring but remembering, Chefito can help.

It gives you one place to see what is already at home, notice what should be used first, and plan around real ingredients instead of hopeful shopping. It does not solve global food waste by itself. It does make the next kitchen decision easier, which is where real habits begin.

FAQ

How much food is wasted in the world?

UNEP says the world wasted about 1.05 billion tonnes of food in 2022.

Is food waste the same as food loss?

No. Food loss usually happens earlier in the supply chain. Food waste usually happens closer to the consumer, especially in homes, food service, and retail.

Are households really the biggest source of food waste?

Yes. UNEP's 2024 global estimate says households account for 60% of food waste happening across homes, food service, and retail.

Why should home cooks care about this?

Because the global number is built out of everyday habits. If homes are a large share of the problem, home routines are also one of the strongest places to improve it.