Examining the validity of considering "excessive removal" as household food waste (food loss)

Abstract

In Japan, three categories of food waste (food loss in Japanese) generated from households have been defined: direct disposal, leftovers, and excessive removal. However, there have been very few cases where the actual situation of food loss has been investigated because it is difficult to classify excessive removal in waste composition analysis. The Ministry of the Environment has estimated the amount of excessive removal nationwide based on the results of those few cases. However, it is difficult to consider measures to control the generation of excessive removal when the actual situation is not clear.

Therefore, in this study, the excessiveness of excessive removal was eliminated, and excessive removal was defined as the physically edible portions of food that are commonly uneaten, such as cooking scraps. With this definition as a premise, a questionnaire survey was conducted to clarify what kinds of foods (portions) were generally considered to be edible portions that were intentionally removed.