Overview

Special Release: Household Food Waste in Malaysia 2025, presenting official statistics on household food waste patterns based on the National Household Indicators Survey (NHIS) 2025. The statistics provide a comprehensive overview of household food waste management practices, including the quantity of food waste generated, the types of food most frequently wasted, and the key factors contributing to food waste in Malaysia.

• The findings indicate that 79.3 per cent of households dispose of food waste together with another household waste, while only 20.7 per cent practice separate disposal.
• In terms of magnitude, the majority of households discard less than 500 grams of food per week, accounting for 48.2 per cent of raw food waste and 45.6 per cent of processed or cooked food waste. Overall, household food waste in Malaysia is estimated to range between 31.9 kilograms and 97.3 kilograms per capita per year, highlighting the scale of the issue at the national level.
• The study shows that food waste is more prevalent for processed or cooked food than for raw food. A total of 94.1 per cent of households reported disposing of processed or cooked food, compared to 88.7 per cent for raw food.
• Further analysis by food type revealed that vegetables (29.1%) were the most frequently wasted category of raw food, followed by fruits (22.4%) and fish or seafood (15.0%). For processed or cooked food, rice (16.7%) recorded the highest proportion of waste, followed by vegetables (15.8%) and takeaway food (13.8%).
• The report also identified expired food (19.3%) as the leading cause of household food waste. Other contributing factors include storing leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer for too long (18.1%), overbuying (15.2%), and cooking excessive amounts of food (15.1%).
• From an international perspective, Malaysia’s household food waste pattern is broadly consistent with global trends. The estimated range of 31.9 to 97.3 kilograms per capita per year is comparable to the global average of 79 kilograms per capita per year.

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