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Quantifying the realistic reduction potential of food waste in Swedish households
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  • Published: 02 February 2026

Quantifying the realistic reduction potential of food waste in Swedish households

  • Amanda Sjölund1,
  • Niina Sundin1,
  • Erik Svensson1,
  • Yvette Paula Aroko1,
  • Mattias Eriksson1 &
  • …
  • Christopher Malefors1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Climate sciences
  • Ecology
  • Environmental sciences
  • Environmental social sciences

Abstract

Household food waste is often framed as a critical challenge for food systems, yet the real potential and impact of waste reduction remain uncertain. This study assessed the prevention potential and the carbon, economic and nutrition footprints of food waste in 41 Swedish households, using data from a digital quantification system over a total of 9843 days. Results showed that 24.4% of food waste was avoidable and 7.3% was possibly avoidable, indicating a prevention potential of 31.7% in total food waste. These fractions had a joint carbon footprint of 19 kg CO2e and an economic cost of €66 per person per year. Despite its smaller volume, the possibly avoidable fraction entailed notable nutrient losses, indicating a missed opportunity for improved nutrition. Additionally, two scenarios modeling a 50% reduction in food waste indicated limited climate, economic, and nutritional benefits from halving food waste. These findings suggest that the impact from reducing food waste among Swedish households may be more limited than typically portrayed. Efforts and resources directed toward reducing food waste should therefore be weighed against, or combined with, other interventions, such as promoting dietary shifts, that may offer greater benefits for food system transition.

Data availability

The data used and analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author.

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Funding

Open access funding provided by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. This work was funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental research fund, grant number 2022-00077.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7032, SE-75007, Uppsala, Sweden

    Amanda Sjölund, Niina Sundin, Erik Svensson, Yvette Paula Aroko, Mattias Eriksson & Christopher Malefors

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  1. Amanda Sjölund
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  2. Niina Sundin
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Contributions

Amanda Sjölund: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Visualization, Data curation. Niina Sundin: Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Formal analysis. Erik Svensson: Software, Writing—review & editing. Yvette Paula Aroko: Data curation, Writing—review & editing. Mattias Eriksson: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition. Christopher Malefors: Software, Funding acquisition, Writing—review & editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amanda Sjölund.

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Sjölund, A., Sundin, N., Svensson, E. et al. Quantifying the realistic reduction potential of food waste in Swedish households. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37302-7

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  • Received: 03 November 2025

  • Accepted: 21 January 2026

  • Published: 02 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37302-7

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Keywords

  • Food systems
  • Impact assessment
  • Sustainable development goals
  • Food waste prevention
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