TEXTE 

145/2024 

German Environment Agency 

Final Report on the ReFoPlan 2021 

Determination of food waste 
in Germany in 2020, fulfilment 
of the reporting obligation to 
the EU Commission in 2022 
and derivation of 
recommendations for action  
by: 
Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden 

Publisher: 
Umweltbundesamt 



 



 

 
TEXTE 145/2024 

Ressortforschungsplan of the Federal Ministry for the 
Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and 
Consumer Protection 

Project No. (FKZ) 3721 34 309 1 
FB001173/ENG 

Final report 

Determination of food waste in Germany in 
2020, fulfilment of the reporting obligation 
to the EU Commission in 2022 and derivation 
of recommendations for action  
  

by: 

Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden 
 
 

 

On behalf of the German Environment Agency  
 



 

 

Imprint 

Publisher 
Umweltbundesamt 
Wörlitzer Platz 1 
06844 Dessau-Roßlau 
Tel: +49 340-2103-0 
Fax: +49 340-2103-2285 
buergerservice@uba.de 
Internet: www.umweltbundesamt.de 

Report performed by: 
Statistisches Bundesamt 
Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 11 
65189 Wiesbaden 
 

Report completed in: 
June 2023 

Edited by: 
Section III 1.5 – Waste Management, Transboundary Movement of Waste 
Elke Kreowski 

Publication as pdf: 
http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen 

ISSN 1862-4804 

Dessau-Roßlau, October 2024 

The responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the author(s).

http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/
http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen
mailto:buergerservice@uba.de


TEXTE Determination of food waste in Germany in 2020, fulfilment of the reporting obligation to the EU Commission in 
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Abstract: Determination of food waste in Germany in 2020, fulfilment of the reporting obligation 
to the EU Commission in 2022 and derivation of recommendations for action  

The project covers in particular the mandatory EU reporting of food waste in the reporting year 
2020 according to EU requirements. This involves determining the amount of food waste in 
Germany at the five stages of the food supply chain – from production to consumption. The 
methodology for measuring food waste generally focuses on the disposal of waste. 

First, the Federal Statistical Office has formed a database based on national, official waste 
statistics. This contains amounts of waste according to waste codes, which generally also include 
food waste. In order to calculate the actual food waste from this database, a consortium of four 
institutes – consisting of the “Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH”, 
“ARGUS-Statistik und Informationssysteme in Umwelt und Gesundheit GmbH”, the “Institut für 
Abfall, Abwasser und Infrastruktur-Management GmbH” and the “Institut für 
Siedlungswasserbau, Wassergüte- und Abfallwirtschaft der Universität Stuttgart” – determined 
the proportion of food waste in each waste code (waste coefficients). For this purpose, the 
consortium evaluated, among other things, waste sorting analyses and conducted a voluntary 
online survey of waste disposal facilities. In addition, the consortium identified 
recommendations for action to reduce food waste.  

The study provides an up-to-date data set on food waste in Germany in the reporting year 2020 
in the context of EU reporting. Furthermore, optimisation recommendations for future reporting 
are formulated. 

Kurzbeschreibung: Ermittlung der Lebensmittelabfälle in Deutschland im Jahr 2020, Erfüllung der 
Berichtspflicht gegenüber der EU-Kommission im Jahr 2022 und Ableitung von 
Handlungsempfehlungen 

Das Projekt umfasst insbesondere die verpflichtende EU-Berichterstattung von 
Lebensmittelabfällen im Berichtsjahr 2020 nach EU-Vorgaben. Dabei wird die Menge der 
Lebensmittelabfälle in Deutschland auf den fünf Stufen der Lebensmittelkette – von der 
Herstellung bis zum Verbrauch – bestimmt. Die Methodik zur Messung der Lebensmittelabfälle 
setzt generell bei der Entsorgung von Abfällen an. 

Zunächst hat das Statistische Bundesamt eine Datenbasis auf Grundlage von nationalen, 
amtlichen Abfallstatistiken gebildet. Diese enthält Abfallmengen nach Abfallschlüsseln, die in der 
Regel auch Lebensmittelabfälle umfassen. Um die tatsächlichen Lebensmittelabfälle aus dieser 
Datenbasis herauszurechnen, hat ein Konsortium aus vier Instituten – bestehend aus dem 
Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH, ARGUS-Statistik und 
Informationssysteme in Umwelt und Gesundheit GmbH, dem Institut für Abfall, Abwasser und 
Infrastruktur-Management GmbH und dem Institut für Siedlungswasserbau, Wassergüte- und 
Abfallwirtschaft der Universität Stuttgart – den Anteil der Lebensmittelabfälle pro 
Abfallschlüssel (Abfallkoeffizienten) bestimmt. Dazu hat das Konsortium unter anderem 
Abfallsortieranalysen ausgewertet und eine freiwillige Online-Befragung von 
Abfallentsorgungsanlagen durchgeführt. Zudem hat das Konsortium Handlungsempfehlungen 
zur Reduzierung von Lebensmittelabfällen aufgezeigt.  

Die Studie liefert eine aktuelle Datengrundlage zu Lebensmittelabfällen in Deutschland im 
Berichtsjahr 2020 im Rahmen der EU-Berichterstattung. Des Weiteren werden 
Optimierungsempfehlungen für die zukünftige Berichterstattung formuliert. 

  



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Table of content 

List of figures ......................................................................................................................................... 10 

List of tables .......................................................................................................................................... 11 

List of abbreviations .............................................................................................................................. 14 

Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 17 

Zusammenfassung ................................................................................................................................. 25 

1 Background .................................................................................................................................... 33 

2 Definitions ..................................................................................................................................... 35 

3 Objective of the research project .................................................................................................. 38 

3.1 Project content ..................................................................................................................... 38 

3.1.1 Gathering data from official waste statistics .................................................................... 38 

3.1.2 Evaluating the research results and determining the coefficients ................................... 38 

3.1.3 Calculating the reporting data, submitting it to Eurostat and deriving 
recommendations for action to reduce food waste ......................................................... 39 

4 Legal regulations ........................................................................................................................... 40 

4.1 Definition of food waste ....................................................................................................... 40 

4.2 Legal basis ............................................................................................................................. 40 

5 Generating the data set................................................................................................................. 41 

5.1 Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 41 

5.1.1 Data set according to the requirements of Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 ............ 41 

5.1.2 Modifications to the data set ............................................................................................ 44 

5.1.2.1 Consideration of additional waste codes ..................................................................... 45 

5.1.2.2 Commercial waste ........................................................................................................ 45 

5.2 Results ................................................................................................................................... 46 

6 Determination the waste coefficients ........................................................................................... 47 

6.1 Mixed municipal waste (20 03 01) ........................................................................................ 47 

6.1.1 Household waste including commercial waste (20 03 01 01) .......................................... 47 

6.1.1.1 Nationwide Household Waste Analysis ........................................................................ 47 

6.1.1.2 Methodological approach to derive the waste coefficients ......................................... 50 

6.1.1.3 Presentation and evaluation of the results .................................................................. 59 

6.1.2 Biowaste including commercial waste (20 03 01 04) ....................................................... 67 

6.1.2.1 Collection of data and the data set taken from waste sorting analyses ...................... 67 

6.1.2.2 Methodological approach to derive the waste coefficients ......................................... 68 

6.1.2.3 Presentation and evaluation of the results .................................................................. 72 



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6.1.3 Commercial waste similar to household waste ................................................................ 79 

6.1.3.1 Collection of data and the data set............................................................................... 79 

6.1.3.2 Methodological approach to derive the waste coefficients ......................................... 79 

6.1.3.3 Presentation and evaluation of the results .................................................................. 80 

6.1.4 Results for the waste coefficients for mixed municipal waste ......................................... 83 

6.2 Other waste codes ................................................................................................................ 84 

6.2.1 Objective and subject matter ........................................................................................... 85 

6.2.2 Methodological approach ................................................................................................. 87 

6.2.3 Online survey: Preparation – checking the waste coefficients for quantitative 
relevance ........................................................................................................................... 88 

6.2.4 Online survey: Procedure ................................................................................................. 89 

6.2.5 Online survey: Feedback ................................................................................................... 90 

6.2.6 Determination the waste coefficients: Methodology ...................................................... 92 

6.2.7 Determination the waste coefficients: Results ................................................................. 93 

6.2.8 Rating the quality of the available data and recommendations for closing gaps in 
the data ............................................................................................................................. 98 

6.2.9 Results of the waste coefficients for the other waste codes ............................................ 99 

7 Home composting in stage 5 of the food supply chain ............................................................... 101 

7.1 Collection of data and the data set ..................................................................................... 101 

7.2 Methodological approach ................................................................................................... 101 

7.3 Presentation and evaluation of the results ......................................................................... 101 

8 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 104 

8.1 Food waste in Germany ...................................................................................................... 104 

8.2 European comparison ......................................................................................................... 105 

9 Optimising the reporting ............................................................................................................. 106 

9.1 Potential for optimising the data set .................................................................................. 106 

9.1.1 Waste outside of the waste management system ......................................................... 106 

9.1.1.1 Food waste disposed of via a drain or toilet ............................................................... 106 

9.1.1.2 Amounts of waste that are no longer intended for human consumption but are 
converted by animal feed companies for sale as animal feed, and food waste used 
to feed privately owned pets ...................................................................................... 107 

9.1.1.3 Home composting ....................................................................................................... 107 

9.1.1.4 Other waste outside of the waste management system ........................................... 108 

9.1.2 Potential loss of moisture before measuring the waste ................................................. 109 

9.1.3 Possibility that the same waste is measured multiple times .......................................... 109 



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9.1.4 Reliability of the allocations to economic sectors .......................................................... 110 

9.2 Potential for optimising the waste coefficients .................................................................. 111 

9.2.1 Potential for optimising the waste coefficients for household waste and biowaste ..... 111 

9.2.2 Potential for optimising the waste coefficient for 20 03 01 00 – non-differentiable 
mixed municipal waste ................................................................................................... 113 

9.2.3 Potential for optimising the waste coefficient for 20 03 01 02 - commercial waste 
similar to household waste that is delivered or collected separately from 
household waste ............................................................................................................. 114 

9.2.4 Potential for optimising the waste coefficients for the other waste codes ................... 114 

9.3 General recommendations for the reporting ..................................................................... 115 

10 Recommendations for reducing food waste ............................................................................... 117 

10.1 Literature research .............................................................................................................. 117 

10.1.1 Best practice UK: Successful reduction in food waste along the entire value added 
chain ................................................................................................................................ 117 

10.1.2 Prioritising action based on its effectiveness ................................................................. 118 

10.1.3 Recommendations for action from the Joint Research Centre of the European 
Commission ..................................................................................................................... 119 

10.1.4 Food waste at the consumer level: Factors and the intention-behaviour gap ............... 124 

10.1.5 Initiatives to reduce food waste in households .............................................................. 124 

10.1.6 Action to reduce food waste in restaurants and food services ...................................... 125 

10.1.7 Self-reporting: Measurement as a tool to reduce food waste at a consumer level ....... 126 

10.1.8 Digital measuring devices (food waste tracking systems) .............................................. 127 

10.1.9 “RESOURCE-MANAGER FOOD” smartphone app ........................................................... 128 

10.1.10 Policy instruments: Recommendations from the Wuppertal and Thünen Institutes .... 129 

10.1.11 “Target-Measure-Act” – Recommendations from the Champions 12.3 coalition ......... 131 

10.2 Summary of the most important approaches and recommendations ............................... 131 

10.3 Need for further research into action to reduce food waste ............................................. 132 

11 Findings and conclusions ............................................................................................................. 134 

List of sources ...................................................................................................................................... 139 

A Annex – Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 ............................................................................. 149 

A.1 Annex I – Attribution of food waste to the different stages of the food supply chain ....... 149 

A.2 Annex II – List of the types of waste with a reporting obligation ....................................... 150 

B Annex – List of waste codes taken into account in the individual stages of the food supply 
chain in addition to those in Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 ............................................. 151 

C Annex – Allocation of the samples to the strata (per sampling campaign) for the biowaste 
analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 153 



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D Annex – Online survey ................................................................................................................. 154 

E Annex – Overview of the waste coefficients ............................................................................... 159 

  



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List of figures 

Figure 1: Evaluation schema and database ............................................. 54 
Figure 2: Extrapolation schema ............................................................... 58 
Figure 3: Composition of household waste and the food waste it 

contains in Germany in the reporting year 2019 ..................... 61 
Figure 4: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to settlement 

structure in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 62 
Figure 5: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to the 

separate collection of biowaste in the reporting year 2019 .... 63 
Figure 6: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to a fee-based 

system in the reporting year 2019 ........................................... 65 
Figure 7: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to building 

structure in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 66 
Figure 8: Composition of biowaste and the food waste it contains in 

Germany in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 74 
Figure 9: Specific amounts of biowaste in relation to settlement 

structure in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 75 
Figure 10: Specific amounts of biowaste in relation to the level of access 

to a biowaste bin in the reporting year 2019 ........................... 77 
Figure 11: Specific amounts of biowaste in relation to building structure 

in the reporting year 2019 ........................................................ 78 
Figure 12: Number of respondents to the online survey of the German 

waste disposal industry in the reporting year 2019 ................. 89 
Figure 13: Disposal channels for food waste in private households ....... 102 
Figure 14: Food waste in Germany in the reporting year 2020 .............. 104 
Figure 15: Schematic diagram of the calculation for the waste coefficients 

for household waste and biowaste for future reporting ....... 113 
Figure 16: RESOURCEMANAGER FOOD: Smartphone app connected to an 

electronic scale via Bluetooth® .............................................. 129 
Figure 17: Recommendations for improving existing laws and economic 

instruments to tackle food waste (Garske et al., 2020) ......... 130 
Figure 18: Summary of the recommendations for action ....................... 132 
Figure 19:  Attribution of food waste to the different stages of the food 

supply chain according to Annex I of Delegated Decision (EU) 
2019/1597 .............................................................................. 149 

Figure 20 List of the types of waste with a reporting obligation according 
to Annex II of Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 ................ 150 

Figure 21: Online questionnaire .............................................................. 154 
 

  



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List of tables 

Table 1: Waste coefficients for mixed municipal waste according to the 
waste code numbers (20 03 01) in the reporting year 2019 .... 21 

Table 2: Food waste in Germany in the reporting year 20201 ............... 23 
Table 3: Data set from the national, official waste statistics for the 

reporting year 2020 .................................................................. 44 
Table 4:  Data set for monitoring food waste, reporting year 2020 ....... 46 
Table 5: Proportion of packaging in packaged food by packaging 

material .................................................................................... 53 
Table 6: Compilation of the data from the public waste disposal 

authorities (örE) on the proportion of waste in each of the 
strata in the reporting year 2019 ............................................. 55 

Table 7: Strata matrix for the twelve federal strata and the three örE 
strata – number of inhabitants in the overall population in 
reporting year 2019 .................................................................. 56 

Table 8: Composition of household waste and the food waste it 
contains in Germany in the reporting year 2019 ..................... 60 

Table 9: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to settlement 
structure in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 62 

Table 10: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to the 
separate collection of biowaste in the reporting year 2019 .... 63 

Table 11: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to fee-based 
system in the reporting year 2019 ........................................... 64 

Table 12: Specific amounts of household waste in relation to building 
structure in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 66 

Table 13: Compilation of the data from the public waste disposal 
authorities on the proportion of biowaste in each of the strata 
in the reporting year 2019 ........................................................ 71 

Table 14: Strata matrix for the nine federal strata and the three örE 
strata – number of inhabitants in the overall population in 
reporting year 2019 .................................................................. 71 

Table 15: Composition of biowaste and the food waste it contains in 
Germany in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 73 

Table 16: Specific amounts of biowaste in relation to settlement 
structure in the reporting year 2019 ........................................ 75 

Table 17: Specific amounts of biowaste in relation to the level of access 
to a biowaste bin in the reporting year 2019 ........................... 76 

Table 18: Specific amounts of biowaste in relation to building structure 
in the reporting year 2019 ........................................................ 78 

Table 19: Composition of commercial waste in the State of Rhineland 
Palatinate from 1992 to 1993 ................................................... 81 



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Table 20: Composition of the organic material group in commercial 
waste in the State of Rhineland Palatinate in 1992 ................. 82 

Table 21: Estimate of the composition of commercial waste similar to 
household waste and the food waste it contains in Germany in 
the reporting year 2019 based on expert opinion ................... 83 

Table 22: Waste coefficients for mixed municipal waste (waste code 20 
03 01) in the reporting year 2019 ............................................. 84 

Table 23: Overview of other waste codes from Annex II of Delegated 
Decision (EU) 2019/1597 .......................................................... 85 

Table 24:  Other waste codes with amounts of waste less than 1,000 t in 
the reporting year 2019 ............................................................ 88 

Table 25: Participation in the online survey on the other waste codes in 
the reporting year 2019 ............................................................ 90 

Table 26: Other waste codes with a maximum of one response in the 
online survey in the reporting year 2019 ................................. 91 

Table 27: Other waste codes with at least two responses in the online 
survey in the reporting year 2019 ............................................ 92 

Table 28: Comparison of the waste coefficients based on the Clopper-
Pearson confidence interval (α=5 %) and estimates based on 
expert opinion ........................................................................ 100 

Table 29: Comparison of the amounts of food waste generated in 
households and the proportions recycled through home 
composting in the two studies ............................................... 103 

Table 30: Food waste in Germany in the reporting year 2020 .............. 105 
Table 31: Suggestions for KPIs to measure effectiveness and efficiency of 

actions of the type “food redistribution” – from the Report of 
the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission 2019
 ................................................................................................ 121 

Table 32: Suggestions for KPIs to measure effectiveness and efficiency of 
actions of the type “consumer behaviour change” – from the 
Report of the Joint Research Centre of the European 
Commission 2019 ................................................................... 122 

Table 33: Suggestions for KPIs to measure effectiveness and efficiency of 
actions of the type “supply chain efficiency” – from the Report 
of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission 2019
 ................................................................................................ 123 

Table 34: Food waste tracking systems in restaurants and food services: 
Advantages and disadvantages of different applications. ..... 128 

Table 35: Food waste in Germany in the reporting year 20201 ............. 137 
Table 36: List of the waste codes in Germany taken into account in the 

individual stages of the food supply chain for reporting year 
2020 in addition to those in Annex II of Delegated Decision (EU) 
2019/1597 .............................................................................. 151 



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Table 37:  Allocation of the sample units to the strata for the biowaste 
analysis in reporting year 2020 (per sampling campaign) ...... 153 

Table 38: List of all waste coefficients including the methodology used to 
derive them for the reporting year 2020 in Germany1 .......... 159 

  



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List of abbreviations 

a Year (annus) 

AE Waste disposal statistics (AE = Statistik der Abfallentsorgung)  

AEU Waste generation statistics (AEU = Statistik der Abfallerzeugung) 

approx. approximately 

ARGUS ARGUS-Statistik und Informationssysteme in Umwelt und Gesundheit 
GmbH, Berlin  

Bill. Billions 

BImSchG Federal Immission Control Act 

BKG Bundesgütegemeinschaft Kompost e. V. (German Quality Assurance 
Organisation for Compost) 

BMEL Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture 

BMUV Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety 
and Consumer Protection  

BS Statistics on the processing and recycling of construction and demolition 
waste  

cf. Compare  

CO2 Carbon dioxide 

CPCI Clopper-Pearson confidence interval 

CW/H Commercial waste collected together with household waste in residual 
waste bins 

DepBau Statistics on landfill construction measures (Statistik 
Deponiebaumaßnahmen) 

e.g. for example  

etc. et cetera 

EU European Union  

EU Commission European Commission 

F2F Farm to Fork Strategy  

fee-based tech. 
systems 

fee-based technological systems 

forsa Gesellschaft für Sozialforschung und statistische Analysen mbH 

GfK SE “Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung” (Society for Consumer Research) 

GV Statistics on the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary 
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (GV = 
Grenzüberschreitende Verbringung) 

GVM Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung mbH (Society for Market 
Research on Packaging) 

HC Home composting  

i Inhabitants 

i.e. that is 



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incl. including 

INFA Institut für Abfall, Abwasser und Infrastruktur-Management GmbH, Ahlen  

JRC Joint Research Centre 

kg Kilogramme 

km² Square kilometre 

KPI Key Performance Indicator 

KrWG Circular Economy Act (Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz)  

LHE Large housing estate 

m³ Cubic metres 

M. Millions 

MKUEM RLP Ministerium für Klimaschutz, Umwelt, Energie und Mobilität RLP (Ministry 
for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility Rhineland 
Palatinate) 

MUNV NRW Ministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Verkehr NRW (Ministry of the 
Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport North Rhine-Westphalia) 

n  Number (as a mathematical symbol) 

No. Number 

NRW North Rhine-Westphalia 

OERE Statistics on public waste disposal (household waste) (Erhebung der 
öffentlich-rechtlichen Abfallentsorgung (Haushaltsabfälle) 

örE Public waste disposal authorities (öffentlich-rechtlicher Entsorgungsträger) 

P. Page 

R&D Research and development 

ReFoPlan Departmental research plan 

RLP Rhineland Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) 

RN Research number 

RY Reporting year  

SDG Sustainable Development Goal  

SS Subject to social security contributions 

StBA Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office), Wiesbaden  

StLÄ Statistical offices of the federal states 

t Tonnes (or metric ton) 

TI Thünen Institut (Thünen Institute), Braunschweig 

UBA Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency), Dessau  

UStatG Environmental Statistics Act  

USTUTT Institut für Siedlungswasserbau, Wassergüte- und Abfallwirtschaft 
(Institute for Urban Water Management, Water Quality Management and 
Waste Management) at the University of Stuttgart  

WFD Waste Framework Directive 



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WI Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH, 
Witzenhausen 

WP Work package  

WRAP Waste and Resources Action Programme in United Kingdom 



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Summary 

Background 

About eleven million tonnes of food are disposed of as waste along the food supply chain in 
Germany every year (StBA 2023a). Globally, this figure was around 1.3 billion tonnes in 2011 – 
about one third of the food produced (Gustavsson et al. 2011). The current figures from the Food 
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations show that around 13.8 %1 of food is lost as 
food losses (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2019). The Food Waste 
Index Report (2021) estimates that the total food waste from households, retail establishments 
and the food service industry is around 931 million tonnes per year (United Nations 
Environment Programme 2021). The food that is not consumed uses up enormous amounts of 
agricultural land and causes about 8 % of greenhouse gas emissions (Mbow et al. 2019). Article 
9 of the EU Waste Framework Directive (WDF) (“Waste Prevention”) and Directive (EU) 
2018/851 Recital Number 31, based on Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, aim to halve the per 
capita food waste at retail and consumer level and reduce food losses along the production and 
supply chains. 

In 2019, the European Commission issued two supplementary decisions providing more 
clarification – Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 on the methodology for the measurement of 
food waste and Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2000 on the format for the submission of 
reports. Alongside the WDF, these EU legal acts require member states to measure the mass of 
food waste on a yearly basis and report to the EU Commission, for the first time by June 30, 2022 
for the reporting year 2020. Based on these legal provisions, Germany had to comply with its 
first reporting obligation on food waste for the reporting year 2020 by June 30, 2022. 
Thereafter, Germany must continue to record the mass of food waste annually and report to the 
EU Commission. 

For the first reporting year 2020, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature 
Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and the German Environment 
Agency (UBA) have commissioned the Federal Statistical Office (StBA) with the task of reporting 
to the EU on food waste as part of this research project. 

Objective of the research project 

The objective of the research project is to prepare the first report to the EU Commission on food 
waste for the reporting year 2020. The StBA is required to submit the results (including the 
quality control report) to the EU Commission by June 30, 2022 in accordance with EU 
specifications. In addition, suggestions for optimising reporting should be developed and 
instruments and measures for further reducing food waste identified. As part of the research 
project, it is necessary to derive reliable data – with the aid of waste coefficients – on the 
proportion of food waste in the different types of waste that may contain food.  

The national, official statistics can show the potential but not the actual amount of food waste in 
Germany. These surveys do not determine how high the proportion of food waste is in the total 
amount of waste for each waste code. The reason for this is that no distinction is made between 
food waste and non-food waste for the waste codes according to the European List of Waste. In 
order to calculate the total amount of food waste, the amounts of waste in each waste code 
(according to the data set) must therefore be multiplied by waste coefficients. The waste 
coefficient indicates the proportion of food waste (e.g. 45 %) that the waste code typically 
contains. 
 

1 This information relates to the areas of primary production, processing and manufacturing as well as wholesale. 



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The waste coefficients and the amount of food waste utilised for home composting were 
determined by a subcontractor within the research project. The subcontractor also identified 
recommendations for action to reduce food waste. This subcontractor was a consortium 
consisting of the “Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH (WI)”, “ARGUS-
Statistik und Informationssysteme in Umwelt und Gesundheit GmbH (ARGUS)”, the “Institut für 
Abfall, Abwasser und Infrastruktur-Management GmbH (INFA)” and the “Institut für 
Siedlungswasserbau, Wassergüte- und Abfallwirtschaft der Universität Stuttgart (USTUTT)”. 

Legal basis 

The definition of “food” laid down in Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament 
and Council encompasses food as a whole, along the entire food supply chain from production to 
consumption. 

According to Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597, the reporting must cover at least the waste 
codes from the European List of Waste for those types of waste that usually also contain food 
waste. All types of waste to be considered in the reporting are listed in Annex II.  

Creation of the data set 

In the first step, the StBA examined the national, official waste statistics for their relevance to 
food waste. Subsequently, the StBA used selected official waste statistics, as well as the data they 
collected on the relevant waste codes that may contain food waste, to produce a data set for the 
calculations and the reporting of the amounts of waste. Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 
provides guidance on which waste codes from the European List of Waste should be included. 
The StBA used the following four national, official sets of waste statistics to determine the 
amount of waste: 

► Waste disposal statistics (Abfallentsorgung – AE) 

► Statistics on the processing and recycling of construction and demolition waste (Bauschutt – 
BS) 

► Statistics on landfill construction measures (Deponiebau – DepBau) 

► Statistics on the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of 
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal (Grenzüberschreitenden Verbringung – GV). 

The StBA then allocated the waste to the respective economic sectors that generated this waste 
on the basis of other official waste statistics. The StBA considered the following national, official 
waste statistics for this process: 

► Statistics on public waste disposal (household waste) (OERE) 

 These amounts of waste are allocated to households 

► Waste disposal statistics (Abfallentsorgung – AE)  

 Waste collected from companies is allocated to the economic sector of the respective 
company or disposal facility 

► Waste generation statistics (Abfallerzeugung – AEU) 

 Waste for which no information exists about its origin was allocated to the different 
waste codes for the economic sectors according to the percentage distribution of the 
extrapolated amounts from the waste generation statistics. 



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The amounts of waste allocated to the economic sectors were then assigned to the five stages of 
the food supply chain. Delegated Decision 2019/1597 indicates which economic sectors or 
activities belong to which stages of the food supply chain: (1) “Primary production”, (2) 
“Processing and manufacturing”, (3) “Retail and other distribution of food”, (4) “Restaurants and 
food services” and (5) “Households”. The amounts of waste were then added up at the level of 
the stages (balancing). 

Modifications: Consideration of additional waste codes and commercial waste 

The StBA modified the data set in two areas to take national circumstances into account. 

The first modification involved the consideration of additional waste codes at stages of the food 
supply chain which are not expressly prescribed by Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597. Annex 
II of Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 specifies which waste codes should be assigned to 
which stages of the food supply chain. The national, official waste statistics show that some 
waste codes also occur in stages of the food supply chain or in economic sectors that are not 
specifically named in Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597. These results can probably be 
attributed to the fact that, in addition to the primary economic activity, amounts of waste can 
also be generated through secondary activities of companies. These are allocated to the 
economic sector of the main activity, even if the types of waste do not match the main activity. In 
addition, it is possible that companies do not always classify their waste using the European List 
of Waste strictly according to its origin. 

In order to give as complete a picture as possible of the amount of food waste in Germany, the 
StBA also considered these amounts of waste and assigned them to the respective stages of the 
food supply chain. No new or additional waste codes were used for this purpose; instead, the 
stages of the food supply chain were merely expanded to include waste codes that already occur 
at other stages and which can contain food waste.  

A further modification was to remove commercial waste from stage 5 of the food supply chain 
and redistribute this amount to stages 1 to 4 of the food supply chain. Household waste and, to a 
small extent, biowaste also always include a proportion of waste of commercial origin, so-called 
commercial waste. This is collected together with household waste or biowaste from 
households. This is waste that is collected from small businesses such as engineering offices, tax 
consultants, lawyers, etc. It is disposed of in the bins provided by the public waste disposal 
authorities (örE). This applies to the residual waste bin (waste code 20 03 01 01 – household 
waste2) and the biowaste bin (waste code 20 03 01 04 – biowaste3). Therefore, the “Households” 
stage (stage 5 of the food supply chain) contains some commercial waste, which originates from 
various economic sectors in stages 1 to 4 of the food supply chain.  

The amount of commercial waste is calculated as the difference between the amounts of waste 
reported by the örE and the extrapolated amount of household waste from households. 
Commercial waste was removed from stage 5 of the food supply chain and redistributed to 
stages 1 to 4 of the food supply chain based on the national, official waste statistics (waste 
generation statistics). The same methodology described in the subchapter “Creation of the data 
set” was used for this redistribution process.  

Waste coefficients for mixed municipal waste 

The data collected by the StBA contains the amount of potential food waste in Germany, taking 
into account the requirements in Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597. In order to calculate the 
 

2 In this report, “household waste” is understood to mean the waste code “20 03 01 01 – household waste, commercial waste similar 
to household waste collected together via public waste disposal”. 
3 In this report, “biowaste” is understood to mean the waste code “20 03 01 04 – waste from biowaste bins”. 



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total amount of food waste, the amounts of waste in each waste code (according to the data set) 
must therefore be multiplied by waste coefficients. The waste coefficient indicates the 
proportion of food waste (e.g. 45 %) that the waste code typically contains. The StBA has 
subcontracted the task of determining the waste coefficients within the research project to a 
consortium consisting of four institutes. 

Mixed municipal waste essentially comprises waste code 20 03 01. This includes household 
waste (20 03 01 01), commercial waste similar to household waste (20 03 01 02), non-
differentiable mixed municipal waste (20 03 01 00) and biowaste (20 03 01 04).  

The base amounts from the municipal collections of household waste are reported in the annual 
survey of public waste disposal by each public waste disposal authority in the federal states, 
while the amounts of biowaste are taken from the waste balances reported by the federal states. 
The base amounts for commercial waste similar to household waste are taken from the waste 
balances compiled by the StBA.  

The consortium determined the waste coefficients for the reporting year 2020 using secondary 
analyses from 2017 to 2022 (household waste and biowaste), evaluations of applicable 
literature and estimates by the consortium (commercial waste similar to household waste).  

The consortium determined the absolute amounts, the amounts per inhabitant and the 
percentage distributions by campaign and stratum using the statistics for the mixed municipal 
waste collected by municipalities and commercial enterprises and the material compositions 
based on secondary analyses and data in applicable literature and used this information to 
calculate the waste coefficients for the waste streams “household waste”, “commercial waste 
similar to household waste” and “biowaste”. 

The evaluation and extrapolation methods for household waste and biowaste used by the 
consortium are the same as the methodological procedure described in the “Bundesweite 
Hausmüllanalyse” (Nationwide Household Waste Analysis) (Dornbusch et al. 2020, Chapter 5, p. 
44 to 83). The investigation plan that was used as the basis for the Nationwide Household Waste 
Analysis and included representative random samples (containers at the premises at an örE 
level and örE at the federal level) was adopted for household waste and biowaste. When 
planning for this study, it was important to ensure that random samples for all strata and 
campaigns were available for evaluation and extrapolation.  

Table 1 shows the determined amounts and compositions of the types of mixed municipal waste 
in condensed form. The amounts of waste for reporting year 2019 were used to determine the 
waste coefficients because amounts for reporting year 2020 were not yet available at the time 
the waste coefficients were calculated. A total of 21,915,753 t of waste was recorded for waste 
codes 20 03 01 01, 20 03 01 04 and 20 03 01 02 in the reporting year 2019. This corresponds to 
an annual amount of waste on average of 264 kilogrammes per inhabitant for these waste codes. 
A total of 6,457,356 t of food waste was recorded in these waste codes in the reporting year 
2019. This corresponds to an annual amount of waste on average of 78 kilogrammes per 
inhabitant for these waste codes in the reporting year 2019. 

The average weighted proportion of food waste (waste coefficient for mixed municipal waste) is 
29 %. The calculations resulted in a waste coefficient of 33 % for household waste, 36 % for 
biowaste and approximately 4 % for commercial waste similar to household waste. At the time 
of the evaluation, there was no information available on the composition of the waste code “non-
differentiable mixed municipal waste – 20 03 01 00”. Therefore, the average weighted 
proportion of food waste of 29 % was adopted for this eight-digit waste code. The waste 



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coefficients were multiplied by the amounts of waste for the reporting year 2020 to calculate the 
amounts of food waste for the reporting year 2020. 

Table 1: Waste coefficients for mixed municipal waste according to the waste code numbers 
(20 03 01) in the reporting year 2019 

Waste streams Annual amount 
 
t/year 

Annual amount per 
inhabitant 
kg/(inhabitant*year) 

Composition 
 
mass % 

Household waste (20 03 01 01)1 12,942,801 155.6 100.0 

Organic  4,886,675 58.8 37.8 

Food waste 4,290,937 51.6 33.2 

Kitchen waste2 2,196,516 26.4 17.0 

Food scraps3 1,309,520 15.7 10.1 

Packaged food (net) 784,901 9.4 6.1 

Biowaste (20 03 01 04)4 5,701,952 68.6 100 

Organic  4,566,878 54.9 80.1 

Food waste 2,035,579 24.5 35.7 

Kitchen waste2 1,396,957 16.8 24.5 

Food scraps3 607,679 7.3 10.7 

Packaged food (net) 30,943 0.4 0.5 

Commercial waste similar to household 
waste (20 03 01 02)5 3,271,000 39.3 100 

Organic 327,100 3.9 10 

Food waste 130,840 1.6 4 

Non-differentiable mixed municipal waste 
(20 03 01 00)6 - - 29 

Total (20 03 01) 21,915,753 263.5 - 

Food waste (20 03 01) 6,457,356 77.6 - 
1 From the OERE statistics from the federal states in the reporting year 2019 (StBA 2021), rounded values. 
2 Kitchen waste = food waste before consumption e.g. fruit peels. 
3 Food scraps = food waste “after” consumption e.g. leftovers. 
4 From the waste balances submitted by the federal states for the reporting year 2019, rounded values. 
5 From the waste balance of the StBA for the reporting year 2019 (StBA 2022), rounded values. 
6 At the time of the investigation, there was no information available on the composition of this waste code. 
Sources: Waste balances of the federal states 2019; StBA 2021; StBA 2022; own research, WI, ARGUS, INFA, USTUTT  

Evaluations relating to influencing variables such as “settlement structure”, “separately collected 
amount of biowaste” or “level of access to the separate collection of biowaste”, “fee system” and 
“building structure” for household waste and biowaste showed that the amount of waste and 
thus the associated amount of food waste were mainly influenced by settlement and building 
structures. 



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The average amount of household waste per capita, as well as the food waste it contains, 
increases noticeably as the population density and building density increases. The opposite is 
true for biowaste. For food waste from households, this means that there are only small 
differences in the disposal of food waste between these strata. It can be assumed that the strata 
“separately collected amount of biowaste”, “fee system” and the “level of access to the separate 
collection of biowaste” have an intercorrelation with settlement and building structure and 
similar behaviour can thus be expected. 

Waste coefficients for other waste codes 

In addition to waste coefficients for mixed municipal waste, the consortium examined the waste 
streams for the areas “primary production”, “processing and manufacturing”, “retail and other 
distribution of food” and “restaurants and food services” and determined their waste coefficients 
(with the exception of the waste code 20 03 01 “mixed municipal waste”). 

In order to ensure that the baseline data for fulfilling the future reporting obligation was as 
reliable as possible, USTUTT conducted surveys of associations and companies in the waste 
management sector using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent out via email to a 
total of 748 recipients on February 18, 2022. The deadline for responses was March 14, 2022. 
The respondents were companies in the German waste management sector or operators of 
waste disposal facilities in Germany – e.g. waste incineration plants, biowaste fermentation 
plants, composting plants and mechanical-biological waste treatment plants. In the online 
survey, USTUTT asked about amounts and waste coefficients for the other waste codes. This 
included all waste codes specified in Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597, with the exception of 
waste code 20 03 01 (mixed municipal waste). In addition, eight of the specified waste codes 
were not included in the online survey because they were not quantitatively relevant4 in the 
reporting year 2019. 

The response rate to the survey was 13.5 % or 101 completed questionnaires, of which 49 (6.6 
%) contained usable data. USTUTT evaluated the results of the study and defined waste 
coefficients for the relevant waste codes. The results showed that the surveyed companies in the 
waste management sector can make an important contribution to defining the waste coefficients 
for a large proportion of the waste codes. The responses to the online survey did not provide any 
usable information for a total of 13 waste codes. In view of the response rate, the existing gaps in 
the data and the state of the data available to the respondents, the online survey cannot meet the 
requirements of a representative sample. Nevertheless, the data collected was the best available 
information at the time of the survey, since the German waste management sector was surveyed 
for the first time in calendar year 2022 about amounts of food waste. 

Home composting 

In accordance with the Eurostat guidance, it was also necessary to consider the amounts of food 
waste recycled through home composting in the food waste calculations for the reporting year 
2020. Due to the fact that the data available was reliable to a rather limited extent, this could 
only be done by making a rough estimate of an approximate order of magnitude. 

To estimate the food waste utilised in home composting, the consortium considered the results 
of two studies. They examined a study by the “Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung” (GfK SE – 
Society for Consumer Research) on the amount of food waste from households (Hübsch 2021), 
as well as the study “Baseline 2015” (Schmidt et al. 2019) published by the Thünen Institute. 

 

4 Waste codes with less than 1,000 t of waste in the 2019 reporting year were classified as irrelevant in terms of their amounts. 



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In particular, the consortium used the figure for the proportion of the total amount of food waste 
generated in households that is utilised in home composting stated in the GfK SE study. The total 
amount of food waste that is generated in households was taken from Baseline 2015. Following 
an evaluation of both studies, the food waste recycled through home composting was thus 
estimated at 1.117 million t per year or an average of 13.6 kg per inhabitant. 

Result 

Multiplying the results of the modified data set by the respective waste coefficients gives the 
total amount of food waste in Germany for the reporting year 2020, while taking into account 
the amounts of waste utilised in home composting. Table 2 below shows the food waste broken 
down into each stage of the food supply chain. 

Table 2: Food waste in Germany in the reporting year 20201 

Stage of the food supply 
chain – number 

Stage of the food supply 
chain – designation  

Food waste 
in 1000 t  

Food waste in % 

1 Primary production 178 2 

2 Processing and manufacturing 1,594 15 

3 Retail and other food 
distribution 

774 7 

4 Restaurants and food services 1,877 17 

5 Households 6,496 59 

 Total 10,919 100 
1 These are corrected values that were calculated on the basis of expert assessments made by the consortium. These 
deviate from the results reported to the EU Commission on June 30, 2022. 

Source: StBA 2023a 

Recommendations for optimising reporting 

The consortium also identified aspects of the reporting that could be optimised and issued 
corresponding recommendations.  

The EU food waste reporting for the reporting year 2020 only considers the waste recorded as 
part of the waste management system. Therefore, the data may not be complete in this regard. 
Another gap in the data is the amount of moisture that is potentially lost before the waste is 
measured. 

The waste coefficients for biowaste and household waste must be determined regularly, i.e. at 
least every four years. The methodology in the Nationwide Household Waste Analysis 
(Dornbusch et al. 2020) has been used up to now for calculating the waste coefficients for 
biowaste and household waste. The consortium believes that the method used to determine the 
waste coefficients for household waste and biowaste for the initial report can be used for future 
reports to ensure that the waste coefficients are kept up to date.  

According to the consortium, the data set on the composition of commercial waste similar to 
household waste that is delivered or collected separately from household waste (20 03 01 02) is 
very incomplete. In order to define a reliable and up-to-date waste coefficient for this waste 
code, it will be necessary to either carry out new waste sorting analyses or to use a different 
methodology for the survey (see “Waste coefficients for other waste codes”). The same 



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recommendation applies to the waste code “non-differentiable mixed municipal waste” (20 03 
01 00). 

Another gap in the data exists regarding the composition of the other waste codes. There is an 
urgent need for further research in this area. In general, the consortium recommends carrying 
out further surveys, research and analyses for future reporting in order to define the waste 
coefficients for the other waste codes. In the process, it is necessary to improve the data by 
carrying out physical surveys and using a larger sample size. According to the consortium, a 
framework concept first has to be developed and defined so that it is possible to make valid 
statements regarding the sample size for waste sorting analyses in stages 1 to 4 of the food 
supply chain. Overall, it is especially important to take a systematic approach to planning the 
sampling process and analysis methods. 

Recommendations for future reporting 

The consortium recommends using all available data sources for future reporting, while giving 
preference to more thoroughly validated data in each case. Physical data, such as waste 
statistics, supplemented by physical information on the composition of the waste, represent the 
most reliable data set in this context.  

Recommendations for action to reduce food waste 

In addition to defining the waste coefficients, the consortium has developed recommendations 
for action for reducing food waste. 

Due to the many different ways for potentially avoiding food waste, the Joint Research Institute 
of the EU recommends defining more specific targets for the respective areas of the food supply 
chain and for individual sectors in line with the generally formulated targets of Sustainable 
Development Goal 12.3. Developing and updating a comprehensive data set is therefore key to 
optimising the system in the long term. According to the JRC, sector and industry-specific waste 
avoidance targets should be defined, which are based on, among other things, the actual waste 
avoidance potential. The goals should be “SMART” (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, 
time-bound) and measured using performance indicators. Performance indicators could, for 
example, monitor the amount of food waste and food losses in relation to the amounts of food 
produced so that the efficiency of processes can be measured. This is already being implemented 
to some extent in Germany by, amongst others, the “dialogue forums” to collect corresponding 
data. 



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Zusammenfassung 

Hintergrund 

Rund elf Millionen (Mio.) Tonnen (t) Lebensmittel (LM) werden in Deutschland jedes Jahr 
entlang der Lebensmittelkette (LMK) als Abfall entsorgt (StBA 2023a). Weltweit waren es 2011 
ca. 1,3 Milliarden (Mrd.) Tonnen – etwa ein Drittel der produzierten LM (Gustavsson et al. 2011). 
Aus den aktuellen Zahlen der Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations geht 
hervor, dass ca. 13,8 %5 LM als LM-Verluste verloren gehen (Food and Agriculture Organization 
of the United Nations 2019). Der Food Waste Index Report (2021) schätzt Lebensmittelabfälle 
(LMA) aus den Bereichen Haushalt, Einzelhandel und der Lebensmittelindustrie auf insgesamt 
ca. 931 Mio. t pro Jahr (United Nations Environment Programme 2021). Die nicht verzehrten LM 
verbrauchen enorme Agrarflächen und verursachen ca. 8 % der Treibhausgasemissionen (Mbow 
et al. 2019). Die EU-Abfallrahmenrichtlinie (AbfRRL) Artikel 9 („Abfallvermeidung“) und die 
Richtlinie (EU) 2018/851 Erwägungsgrund Nummer (Nr.) 31 sehen in Anlehnung an das 
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 vor, die auf Ebene des Einzelhandels und auf 
Verbraucherebene pro Kopf anfallenden LMA zu halbieren und die Verluste von LM entlang der 
Produktions- und Lieferketten zu reduzieren. 

Die Europäische Kommission (EU-Kommission) hat im Jahr 2019 zwei konkretisierende 
Beschlüsse erlassen, den Delegierten Beschluss (EU) 2019/1597 zur Methodik der Messung von 
LMA und den Durchführungsbeschluss (EU) 2019/2000 zum Übermittlungsformat der Berichte. 
Diese EU-Rechtsakte verpflichten neben der AbfRRL die Mitgliedstaaten, die Masse der LMA 
jährlich zu messen und der EU-Kommission zu berichten, und zwar erstmals bis zum 30. Juni 
2022 für das Berichtsjahr (BJ) 2020. Aufgrund dieser rechtlichen Bestimmungen musste 
Deutschland seiner erstmaligen Berichtspflicht zu LMA für BJ 2020 zum 30. Juni 2022 
nachkommen. Danach muss Deutschland weiterhin jährlich die Masse der LMA erfassen und der 
EU-Kommission berichten. 

Für das erste BJ 2020 haben das Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare 
Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV) und das Umweltbundesamt (UBA) das Statistische 
Bundesamt (StBA) für die EU-Berichterstattung zu LMA im Rahmen dieses Forschungsprojektes 
beauftragt. 

Zielsetzung des Forschungsprojekts 

Zielsetzung des Forschungsvorhabens ist die Erarbeitung des ersten Berichts an die EU-
Kommission zu LMA für das BJ 2020. Das StBA soll die Ergebnisse (einschließlich 
Qualitätskontrollbericht) entsprechend den EU-Vorgaben zum 30. Juni 2022 an die EU-
Kommission übermitteln. Darüber hinaus sollen Vorschläge zur Optimierung der 
Berichterstattung erarbeitet sowie Instrumente und Maßnahmen zur weiteren Reduzierung von 
LMA aufgezeigt werden. Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts soll die Ableitung belastbarer 
Anteile von LMA mit Hilfe von Abfallkoeffizienten (AKO) für die Abfälle, die LMA enthalten 
können, ermittelt werden. 

Die nationalen, amtlichen Statistiken können die potenzielle, aber nicht die tatsächliche Menge 
an LMA in Deutschland ausweisen. Bei diesen Erhebungen wird nicht ermittelt, wie hoch der 
Anteil an LMA an der Gesamtabfallmenge des jeweiligen Abfallschlüssels ist. Dies liegt darin 
begründet, dass für die Abfallschlüssel nach dem europäischen Abfallverzeichnis keine 
Unterscheidung in LMA und Nicht-LMA vorgesehen ist. Zwecks Berechnung der LMA müssen die 
Abfallmengen je Abfallschlüssel (gemäß der ermittelten Datenbasis) deshalb mit AKO 
 

5 Diese Angabe bezieht sich auf die Bereiche Primärproduktion, Verarbeitung und Herstellung sowie den Großhandel. 



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multipliziert werden. Der AKO gibt den Anteil der LMA an (z. B. 45 %), den der Abfallschlüssel 
typischerweise enthält. 

Die Ermittlung der AKO und der eigenkompostierten LMA sowie das Aufzeigen von 
Handlungsempfehlungen zur Reduzierung von LMA erfolgte durch einen Unterauftrag innerhalb 
des Forschungsprojekts. Diese Aufgaben hat ein Konsortium – bestehend aus dem 
Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie GmbH (WI), ARGUS-Statistik und 
Informationssysteme in Umwelt und Gesundheit GmbH (ARGUS), dem Institut für Abfall, 
Abwasser und Infrastruktur-Management GmbH (INFA) und dem Institut für 
Siedlungswasserbau, Wassergüte- und Abfallwirtschaft der Universität Stuttgart (USTUTT) – 
übernommen. 

Rechtsgrundlagen 

Die Definition von „Lebensmittel“ ist in der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 178/2002 des Europäischen 
Parlaments und des Rates beschrieben und umfasst LM als Ganzes, entlang der gesamten LMK 
von der Erzeugung bis zum Verbrauch. 

Gemäß dem Delegierten Beschluss (EU) 2019/1597 umfasst die Berichterstattung mindestens 
die Abfallschlüssel aus dem Europäischen Abfallverzeichnis für Abfallarten, die in der Regel auch 
LMA umfassen. Alle zu berücksichtigenden Abfälle sind in Anhang II des Beschlusses aufgelistet. 
Alle zu berücksichtigenden Abfälle sind in Anhang II des Beschlusses aufgelistet. 

Erstellung der Datenbasis 

Im ersten Schritt hat das StBA die nationale amtliche Abfallstatistik auf ihre Relevanz für LMA 
untersucht. Anschließend hat das StBA die Berechnungsgrundlage bzw. die Bilanzierung der 
Abfallmengen auf Basis ausgewählter amtlicher Abfallstatistiken und der dort erhobenen 
relevanten Abfallschlüssel, die LMA enthalten können, erstellt. Hierbei gibt der Delegierte 
Beschluss (EU) 2019/1597 die einzubeziehenden Abfallschlüssel aus dem Europäischen 
Abfallverzeichnis als Orientierung vor. Das StBA hat die vier folgenden nationalen amtlichen 
Abfallstatistiken für die Ermittlung des Aufkommens verwendet: 

► Erhebung der Abfallentsorgung (AE), 

► Erhebung über die Aufbereitung und Verwertung von Bau- und Abbruchabfällen (BS), 

► Erhebung der Deponiebaumaßnahmen (DepBau) und 

► Erhebung der Grenzüberschreitenden Verbringung von notifizierungspflichtigen Abfällen 
gemäß dem Basler Übereinkommen (GV). 

Das StBA hat anschließend die so ermittelten Abfälle anhand weiterer amtlicher 
Abfallstatistiken auf die Wirtschaftszweige (WZ) verteilt, die den jeweiligen Abfall erzeugt 
haben. Bei der Verteilung berücksichtigte das StBA die Ergebnisse folgender nationaler 
amtlicher Abfallstatistiken: 

► Erhebung der öffentlich-rechtlichen Abfallentsorgung (Haushaltsabfälle) (OERE) 

 die Abfallmengen werden den privaten Haushalten zugeordnet, 

► Erhebung der Abfallentsorgung (AE) 

 betriebseigene Abfälle werden dem WZ des jeweiligen Betriebs bzw. der 
Entsorgungsanlage zugeordnet und 



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► Erhebung der Abfallerzeugung (AEU) 

 Abfälle, zu deren Herkunft keine Hinweise vorliegen, werden entsprechend der 
prozentualen Verteilung von hochgerechneten Mengen der AEU-Erhebung der einzelnen 
Abfallschlüssel den WZ zugeordnet. 

Die auf die WZ verteilten Abfallmengen wurden anschließend den fünf Stufen der LMK 
zugeordnet. Der Delegierte Beschluss 2019/1597 gibt an, welche WZ zu welchen Stufen der LMK 
gehören: 1. „Primärerzeugung“, 2. „Verarbeitung und Herstellung“, 3. „Einzelhandel und andere 
Formen des Vertriebs von Lebensmitteln“, 4. „Gaststätten und Verpflegungsdienstleistungen“ 
sowie 5. „Private Haushalte“. Anschließend wurden die Abfallmengen auf Ebene der Stufen 
addiert (Bilanzierung). 

Modifikationen: Berücksichtigung zusätzlicher Abfallschlüssel und Geschäftsmüll 

Das StBA hat die Datenbasis bei deren Erstellung in zwei Punkten hinsichtlich der nationalen 
Gegebenheiten modifiziert. 

Die erste Modifikation besteht in der Berücksichtigung von Abfallschlüsseln auf Stufen der LMK, 
die der Delegierte Beschluss (EU) 2019/1597 nicht ausdrücklich vorsieht. Anhang II des 
Delegierten Beschlusses (EU) 2019/1597 gibt vor, welche Abfallschlüssel welchen Stufen der 
LMK zugeordnet werden sollen. Die Ergebnisse der nationalen, amtlichen Abfallstatistiken 
zeigen, dass einige Abfallschlüssel auch in Stufen der LMK bzw. in WZ vorkommen, die der 
Delegierte Beschluss (EU) 2019/1597 nicht ausdrücklich benennt. Diese Ergebnisse lassen sich 
wahrscheinlich darauf zurückführen, dass neben der Tätigkeit im wirtschaftlichen Schwerpunkt 
auch Abfallmengen bei Nebentätigkeiten anfallen können. Diese werden dem WZ der 
Haupttätigkeit zugeordnet, auch wenn die Abfallarten nicht zur Haupttätigkeit passen. Zudem 
besteht die Möglichkeit, dass Betriebe ihren Abfall nicht immer strikt nach dessen Herkunft dem 
Europäischen Abfallverzeichnis zuordnen. 

Um ein möglichst vollständiges Bild des LMA-Aufkommens in Deutschland zu zeichnen, hat das 
StBA auch diese Abfallmengen berücksichtigt und den jeweiligen Stufen der LMK zugeordnet. 
Hierbei wurden keine neuen bzw. zusätzlichen Abfallschlüssel herangezogen, sondern lediglich 
die Stufen der LMK um bereits auf anderen Stufen vorhandene Abfallschlüssel, die LMA erhalten 
können, erweitert. 

Eine weitere Modifikation bestand in dem Herausrechnen des Geschäftsmülls auf Stufe 5 der 
LMK und der Umverteilung dieser Mengen auf die Stufen 1 bis 4 der LMK. Der Hausmüll und in 
geringem Umfang auch der Bioabfall umfassen immer auch einen Anteil an Abfällen 
gewerblicher Herkunft, den sogenannten Geschäftsmüll. Dieser wird gemeinsam mit dem 
Hausmüll bzw. dem Bioabfall aus privaten Haushalten eingesammelt. Hierbei handelt es sich um 
Abfälle, die bei kleineren Gewerbebetrieben, z. B. Ingenieurbüros, Steuerberater, Anwälte, etc. 
anfallen. Diese werden in den vom öffentlich-rechtlichen Entsorgungsträger (örE) bereit 
gestellten Tonnen mit entsorgt. Dies betrifft die Restabfalltonne (Abfallschlüssel 20 03 01 01 – 
Hausmüll 6) sowie die Bioabfalltonne (Abfallschlüssel 20 03 01 04 – Bioabfall 7). Geschäftsmüll 
wird also bei den Haushalten (Stufe 5 der LMK) miterfasst, entstammt jedoch verschiedenen WZ 
der Stufen 1 bis 4 der LMK. 

Die Menge an Geschäftsmüll berechnet sich aus der Differenz der Abfallmengen der örE und der 
hochgerechneten Menge an Hausmüll aus privaten Haushalten. Der Geschäftsmüll wurde aus der 
 

6In diesem Bericht wird unter „Hausmüll“ der Abfallschlüssel „20 03 01 01 – Hausmüll, hausmüllähnliche Gewerbeabfälle gemeinsam 
über die öffentliche Müllabfuhr eingesammelt“ verstanden. 
7In diesem Bericht wird unter „Bioabfall“ der Abfallschlüssel „20 03 01 04 – Abfälle aus der Biotonne“ verstanden. 



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Stufe 5 der LMK herausgerechnet und anhand der Ergebnisse der nationalen, amtlichen 
Abfallstatistiken (AEU) auf die Stufen 1 bis 4 der LMK umverteilt. Dabei wurde der gleichen 
Verteilungsmethodik gefolgt, die im Unterkapitel „Erstellung der Datenbasis“ beschrieben 
wurde. 

Abfallkoeffizienten für gemischte Siedlungsabfälle 

Die vom StBA ermittelte Datenbasis enthält, unter Berücksichtigung der Vorgaben des 
Delegierten Beschlusses (EU) 2019/1597, die Menge an potenziellen LMA in Deutschland. 
Zwecks Berechnung der LMA müssen die Abfallmengen je Abfallschlüssel (gemäß der 
ermittelten Datenbasis) deshalb mit AKO multipliziert werden. Der AKO gibt den Anteil der LMA 
an (z. B. 45 %), den der Abfallschlüssel typischerweise enthält. Das StBA hat die Ermittlung der 
AKO innerhalb des Forschungsprojekts als Unterauftrag vollständig an ein Konsortium, 
bestehend aus vier Instituten, vergeben. 

Der Bereich der gemischten Siedlungsabfälle umfasst im Wesentlichen den Abfallschlüssel 20 03 
01. Dazu gehören der Hausmüll (20 03 01 01), der hausmüllähnliche Gewerbeabfall (20 03 01 
02), nicht differenzierbare gemischte Siedlungsabfälle (20 03 01 00) und der Bioabfall (20 03 01 
04). 

Die Basismengen der kommunalen Erfassung für Hausmüll werden in den jährlichen OERE der 
Bundesländer je örE berichtet. Die Abfallmengen für den Bioabfall entstammen den 
Abfallbilanzen der Bundesländer. Die Basismengen für hausmüllähnliche Gewerbeabfälle 
werden der Abfallbilanz des StBA entnommen. 

Das Konsortium hat die AKO für das BJ 2020 über Sekundäruntersuchungen aus den Jahren 
2017 bis 2022 (Hausmüll und Bioabfall), über Literaturauswertungen und über Abschätzungen 
des Konsortiums (hausmüllähnliche Gewerbeabfälle) bestimmt. 

Aus den Ergebnissen der kommunal und gewerblich erfassten gemischten Siedlungsabfälle und 
den stofflichen Zusammensetzungen aus Sekundäranalysen und Literaturdaten hat das 
Konsortium die absoluten Mengen, die einwohnerspezifischen Mengen und die prozentualen 
Zusammensetzungen nach Kampagnen und Schichten ermittelt und daraus die AKO für die 
Abfallströme „Hausmüll“, „hausmüllähnlicher Gewerbeabfall“ und „Bioabfall“ berechnet. 

Die Auswertungs- und Hochrechnungsmethode für Hausmüll und Bioabfall hat das Konsortium 
analog der in der Bundesweiten Hausmüllanalyse beschriebenen methodischen Vorgehensweise 
durchgeführt (Dornbusch et al. 2020, Kapitel 5, S. 44 bis 83). Die für die Bundesweite 
Hausmülluntersuchung zugrunde gelegte Untersuchungsplanung mit repräsentativen 
Stichproben (Behälter am Grundstück auf örE-Ebene und örE auf Bundesebene) wurde für den 
Hausmüll und den Bioabfall übernommen. In den Planungen für die vorliegende Studie wurde 
sichergestellt, dass Stichproben für alle Schichten und Kampagnen für die Auswertung und 
Hochrechnung verfügbar waren. 

In Table 1 sind die ermittelten Mengen und Zusammensetzungen der Abfallarten der gemischten 
Siedlungsabfälle in komprimierter Form dargestellt. Für die Ermittlung der AKO wurden die 
Abfallmengen für das BJ 2019 herangezogen, da die Abfallmengen des BJ 2020 zum Zeitpunkt 
der Ermittlung der AKO noch nicht vorlagen. Insgesamt wurden im BJ 2019 21.915.753 t Abfälle 
für die Abfallschlüssel 20 03 01 01, 20 03 01 04 und 20 03 01 02 erfasst. Dies entspricht einer 
jährlichen Abfallmenge von durchschnittlich 264 kg je Einwohner für diese Abfallschlüssel. An 
LMA wurden im BJ 2019 in diesen Abfallschlüsseln insgesamt 6.457.356 t erfasst. Dies 
entspricht einer jährlichen Abfallmenge von durchschnittlich 78 kg je Einwohner für diese 
Abfallschlüssel im BJ 2019. 



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Der durchschnittliche gewichtete Anteil an LMA (AKO für gemischte Siedlungsabfälle) beträgt 29 
%. Im Hausmüll liegt der AKO bei 33 %, im Bioabfall bei 36 % und im hausmüllähnlichen 
Gewerbeabfall annäherungsweise bei ca. 4 %. Für den Abfallschlüssel „gemischte 
Siedlungsabfälle, nicht differenzierbar – 20 03 01 00“ lagen zum Zeitpunkt der Untersuchung 
keine Informationen über die Zusammensetzung dieses Abfallstroms vor. Aus diesem Grund 
wurde für diesen Achtsteller der durchschnittlich gewichtete Anteil an LMA von 29 % 
übernommen. Die AKO wurden für das BJ 2020 mit den Abfallmengen des BJ 2020 multipliziert, 
um die LMA-Mengen zu berechnen. 

Tabelle 1 Abfallkoeffizienten für die gemischten Siedlungsabfälle nach 
Abfallschlüsselnummern (20 03 01) im Berichtsjahr 2019 

Abfallströme Jahresmenge 
 
t/Jahr 

Einwohnerspezifische 
Jahresmenge 
kg/(Einwohner*Jahr) 

Zusammensetzung 
 
Masse % 

Hausmüll (20 03 01 01)1 12,942,801 155.6 100.0 

Organik 4,886,675 58.8 37.8 

Lebensmittelabfälle 4,290,937 51.6 33.2 

Küchenabfälle2 2,196,516 26.4 17.0 

Nahrungsabfälle 3 1,309,520 15.7 10.1 

verpackte Lebensmittel 
(netto) 

784.901 9.4 6.1 

Bioabfall (20 03 01 04)4 5,701,952 68.6 100 

Organik 4,566,878 54.9 80.1 

Lebensmittelabfälle 2,035,579 24.5 35.7 

Küchenabfälle2 1,396,957 16.8 24.5 

Nahrungsabfälle3 607.679 7.3 10.7 

verpackte Lebensmittel 
(netto) 

30.943 0.4 0.5 

Hausmüllähnlicher Gewerbeabfall (20 03 
01 02)5 3,271,000 39.3 100 

Organik 327.100 3.9 10 

Lebensmittelabfälle 130.840 1.6 4 

gemischte Siedlungsabfälle, nicht 
differenzierbar (20 03 01 00)6 

- - 29 

Summe (20 03 01) 21,915,753 263.5 - 

Lebensmittelabfälle (20 03 01) 6,457,356 77.6 - 
1 Aus den OERE der Bundesländer BJ 2019 (StBA 2021), gerundete Werte. 
2 Küchenabfälle = LMA vor Verzehr, z.B. Obstschalen. 

3 Nahrungsabfälle = LMA „nach“ Verzehr, z.B. Speisereste. 
4 Aus den Abfallbilanzen der Bundesländer BJ 2019, gerundete Werte. 
5 Aus der Abfallbilanz des StBA BJ 2019 (StBA 2022), gerundete Werte. 



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6 Zum Zeitpunkt der Untersuchung lagen keine Informationen über die Zusammensetzung dieses Abfallschlüssels vor. 

Quellen: Abfallbilanzen der Bundesländer 2019; StBA 2021; StBA 2022; eigene Darstellung, WI, ARGUS, INFA, USTUTT 

Die Auswertungen bezüglich der Einflussgrößen „Siedlungsstruktur“, „getrennt erfasste 
Bioabfallmenge“ bzw. „Anschlussgrad an die getrennte Bioabfallsammlung“, „Gebührensystem 
und Bebauungsstruktur für Hausmüll und Bioabfall“ zeigten, dass das Abfallaufkommen und 
damit auch zusammenhängend das LMA-Aufkommen überwiegend durch die Siedlungs- und 
Bebauungsstruktur geprägt wurden. 

Das durchschnittliche Pro-Kopf-Hausmüllaufkommen wie auch die darin enthaltenen LMA 
nehmen mit der Siedlungsdichte sowie mit dichter werdender Bebauungsstruktur erkennbar zu. 
Für Bioabfall verhält es sich umgekehrt. Für die LMA aus Privathaushalten bedeutet dies, dass 
sich nur geringe Unterschiede im Wegwerfverhalten von LMA zwischen diesen Schichten 
ergeben. Für die nach Schichten getrennt erfasste Bioabfallmenge, Gebührensystem und 
Anschlussgrad an die getrennte Bioabfallsammlung kann eine Interkorrelation mit der 
Siedlungs- und Bebauungsstruktur angenommen und damit ähnliches Verhalten vermutet 
werden. 

Abfallkoeffizienten für übrige Abfallschlüssel 

Neben AKO für die gemischten Siedlungsabfälle hat das Konsortium unter anderem die 
Abfallströme für die Bereiche „Primärerzeugung“, „Verarbeitung und Herstellung“, 
„Einzelhandel und andere Formen des Vertriebs von Lebensmitteln“ sowie „Gaststätten und 
Verpflegungsdienstleistungen“ untersucht und AKO ermittelt (mit Ausnahme des 
Abfallschlüssels 20 03 01 „gemischte Siedlungsabfälle“). 

Um eine möglichst belastbare Ausgangsbasis für die Erfüllung der anstehenden Berichtspflicht 
zu gewährleisten, hat die USTUTT Verbands- bzw. Unternehmensbefragungen der 
Entsorgungswirtschaft mithilfe eines Online-Fragebogens durchgeführt. Der versendete 
Fragebogen wurde am 18. Februar 2022 per E-Mail an insgesamt 748 Empfänger versendet. Die 
Frist für die Beantwortung endete am 14. März 2022. Bei den Befragten handelt es sich um 
Unternehmen aus der deutschen Entsorgungswirtschaft bzw. um Betreiber*innen von 
Abfallentsorgungsanlagen in Deutschland, z. B. Müllverbrennungsanlagen, 
Bioabfallvergärungsanlagen, Kompostanlagen und mechanisch-biologische 
Abfallbehandlungsanlagen. In der Online-Umfrage hat die USTUTT die Mengen und AKO der 
übrigen Abfallschlüssel abgefragt. Diese umfassen alle Abfallschlüssel, die der Delegierte 
Beschluss (EU) 2019/1597 vorgibt, mit Ausnahme des Abfallschlüssels 20 03 01 (gemischte 
Siedlungsabfälle). Außerdem wurden acht der genannten Abfallschlüssel nicht in der Online-
Befragung berücksichtigt, da sie im BJ 2019 keine mengenmäßige Relevanz8 aufwiesen. 

Die Rücklaufquote der Befragung lag bei 13,5 % bzw. 101 beantworteten Fragebogen, von denen 
49 (6,6 %) verwertbare Datensätze enthielten. Die USTUTT hat die Ergebnisse der 
Untersuchung ausgewertet und AKO in Bezug auf die relevanten Abfallschlüssel gebildet. Dabei 
zeigte sich, dass die befragten Unternehmen aus der Abfallwirtschaft einen wichtigen Beitrag 
zur AKO-Ermittlung für einen Großteil der Abfallschlüssel liefern können. Für insgesamt 13 
Abfallschlüssel lagen keine verwertbaren Angaben in den Rückmeldungen der Online-Befragung 
vor. In Anbetracht der Rücklaufquote, der vorhandenen Datenlücken und des bei den Befragten 
vorliegenden Datenbestandes kann die Online-Befragung die Anforderungen einer 
repräsentativen Stichprobe nicht erfüllen. Gleichwohl handelt es sich bei den erhobenen Daten 
um die bestverfügbaren Informationen zum Zeitpunkt der Erhebung, da die deutsche 

 

8Abfallschlüssel, deren Abfallmenge im BJ 2019 weniger als 1.000 t betrug, wurden als mengenmäßig irrelevant eingestuft. 



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Entsorgungswirtschaft im Kalenderjahr 2022 erstmals hinsichtlich des 
Lebensmittelabfallaufkommens befragt wurde. 

Eigenkompostierung 

Darüber hinaus mussten bei der LMA-Berechnung für das BJ 2020 nach Eurostat-Vorgaben die 
über die Eigenkompostierung (EK) verwerteten LMA-Mengen berücksichtigt werden. Aufgrund 
einer lediglich bedingt belastbaren Datenlage konnte dies nur als Annäherung, also als grobe 
Abschätzung einer annähernden Größenordnung, erfolgen. 

Zur Abschätzung der eigenkompostierten LMA hat das Konsortium die Ergebnisse zweier 
Studien berücksichtigt. Einerseits ist dies eine Studie der Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK 
SE) zum LMA-Aufkommen aus privaten Haushalten (Hübsch 2021). Ergänzend wurde die vom 
Thünen-Institut (TI) veröffentlichte Studie „Baseline 2015“ (Schmidt et al. 2019) hinzugezogen. 

Konkret wurde der Anteil der eigenkompostierten LMA an allen LMA, die in privaten Haushalten 
anfallen, aus der GfK SE-Studie verwendet. Die Gesamtmenge der LMA, die in privaten 
Haushalten anfallen, wurde der Baseline 2015 entnommen. Dementsprechend wurden, als 
Auswertung beider Studien, die über die EK verwerteten LMA auf jährlich 1,117 Mio. t bzw. 
durchschnittlich 13,6 kg je Einwohner geschätzt. 

Ergebnis 

Durch die Multiplikation der Ergebnisse der modifizierten Datenbasis mit den jeweiligen AKO 
ergibt sich unter Berücksichtigung der eigenkompostierten Mengen die gesamte Menge an LMA 
in Deutschland für das BJ 2020. Die folgende Table 2 stellt diese pro Stufe der LMK dar. 

Tabelle 2  Lebensmittelabfälle in Deutschland im Berichtsjahr 20201 

Stufe der Lebensmittelkette – 
Nummer 

Stufe der Lebensmittelkette – 
Bezeichnung 

Lebensmittelabfälle 
in 1000 t 

Lebensmittelabfälle 
in % 

1 Primärerzeugung 178 2 

2 Verarbeitung und Herstellung 1.594 15 

3 Einzelhandel und andere 
Formen des Vertriebs von 
Lebensmitteln 

774 7 

4 Gaststätten und 
Verpflegungsdienstleistungen 

1.877 17 

5 private Haushalte 6.496 59 

 Insgesamt 10.919 100 
1 Hierbei handelt es sich um korrigierte Werte, die auf Basis der Gutachterlichen Einschätzung des Konsortiums berechnet 
wurden. Hieraus resultieren Abweichungen zu den Ergebnissen, die zum 30. Juni 2022 an die EU-Kommission berichtet 
wurden. 

Quelle: StBA 2023a 

Empfehlungen zur Optimierung der Berichterstattung 

Daneben hat das Konsortium Optimierungspunkte der Berichterstattung ermittelt und -
empfehlungen formuliert.  

In der EU-Berichterstattung für das BJ 2020 wurden lediglich diejenigen Abfälle berichtet, die im 
Rahmen des Abfallmanagementsystems erfasst werden. Daher ist die Datenlage in dieser 



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Hinsicht ggf. nicht vollständig. Eine weitere Datenlücke besteht u. a. bei der Menge an 
Feuchtigkeit, die potenziell vor der Messung der Abfälle verloren geht. 

Die AKO von Bioabfall und Hausmüll müssen regelmäßig, d. h. mindestens alle vier Jahre, 
ermittelt werden. Bisher basieren die AKO für Bioabfall und Hausmüll auf der Methodik der 
Bundesweiten Hausmüllanalyse (Dornbusch et al. 2020). Um eine AKO-Fortschreibung zu 
gewährleisten, kann laut dem Konsortium die für die erstmalige Berichterstattung verwendete 
Methode zur Ermittlung der AKO für Hausmüll und Bioabfall für die zukünftigen 
Berichterstattungen angewandt werden. 

Die Datenbasis zur Zusammensetzung der getrennt von Hausmüll angelieferten oder 
eingesammelten hausmüllähnlichen Gewerbeabfälle (20 03 01 02) ist laut dem Konsortium sehr 
lückenhaft. Um einen belastbaren und aktuellen AKO für diesen Abfallschlüssel zu ermitteln, 
sollten entweder neuere Abfallsortieranalysen durchgeführt oder eine andere 
Erhebungsmethodik (siehe „übrige Abfallschlüssel“) verwendet werden. Die gleiche Empfehlung 
gilt für den Abfallschlüssel „gemischte Siedlungsabfälle nicht differenzierbar“ (20 03 01 00). 

Eine weitere Datenlücke besteht bei der Zusammensetzung der übrigen Abfallschlüssel. Hier 
besteht dringender Forschungsbedarf. Generell empfiehlt das Konsortium für die zukünftige 
Berichterstattung, weitere Erhebungen, Recherchen und Analysen zur Ermittlung der AKO der 
übrigen Abfallschlüssel durchzuführen. Dabei sei es notwendig, die Datenlage durch physische 
Erhebungen und einen größeren Stichprobenumfang zu verbessern. Um valide Aussagen bzgl. 
des Stichprobenumfangs von Abfallsortieranalysen in den Stufen 1 bis 4 der LMK treffen zu 
können, müsste laut Konsortium zunächst ein Rahmenkonzept erarbeitet und definiert werden. 
Insgesamt sei die Entwicklung eines systematischen Vorgehens bezüglich der 
Stichprobenplanung und Analysemethode an dieser Stelle besonders wichtig. 

Empfehlungen für die zukünftige Berichterstattung 

Für die zukünftige Berichterstattung wird die Nutzung aller verfügbaren Datenquellen 
empfohlen, wobei jeweils den validierten Daten der Vorzug gegeben werden sollte. Physische 
Daten, wie zum Beispiel Abfallstatistiken, ergänzt um physische Angaben zur 
Abfallzusammensetzung, repräsentieren in diesem Zusammenhang die verlässlichste 
Datengrundlage. 

Handlungsempfehlungen zur Reduzierung von Lebensmittelabfällen 

Neben der Ermittlung der AKO hat das Konsortium Handlungsempfehlungen zur LMA-
Reduzierung erarbeitet. 

Angesichts der unterschiedlichen Vermeidungspotenziale von LMA empfiehlt sich laut dem Joint 
Research Institute (JRC) der EU eine Spezifizierung der relativ allgemein formulierten 
Zielvorgaben von SDG 12.3 für die jeweiligen Bereiche der LMK sowie für einzelne Branchen. Die 
Erarbeitung und Fortschreibung einer umfassenden Datenbasis ist deshalb der Schlüssel für 
eine nachhaltige Systemoptimierung. Laut JRC sollen sektor- und branchenspezifische 
Vermeidungsziele definiert werden, die sich unter anderem an den tatsächlichen 
Vermeidungspotenzialen orientieren. Die Ziele sollen „SMART“ (Spezifisch, messbar, ausführbar, 
relevant, terminiert) sein und anhand von Leistungsindikatoren gemessen werden. 
Leistungsindikatoren können zum Beispiel durch ein Monitoring von Abfall- und Verlustmengen 
in Bezug auf Produktionsmengenformuliert werden, um dadurch die Effizienz von Prozessen 
messbar zu machen. Dieses Vorgehen wird in Deutschland unter anderem von den Dialogforen 
teilweise umgesetzt und entsprechende Daten erhoben. 



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1 Background 
About eleven million tonnes of food are disposed of as waste along the food supply chain in 
Germany every year (StBA 2023a). Globally, this figure was around 1.3 billion tonnes in 2011 – 
about one third of the food produced (Gustavsson et al. 2011). The current figures from the Food 
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations show that around 13.8 %9 of food is lost as 
food losses (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2019). The Food Waste 
Index Report (2021) estimates that the total food waste from households, retail establishments 
and the food service industry is around 931 million tonnes per year (United Nations 
Environment Programme 2021). The food that is not consumed uses up enormous amounts of 
agricultural land and causes about 8 % of greenhouse gas emissions (Mbow et al. 2019). Article 
9 of the EU Waste Framework Directive (WDF) (“Waste Prevention”) and Directive (EU) 
2018/851 Recital Number 31, based on Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, aim to halve the per 
capita food waste at retail and consumer level and reduce food losses along the production and 
supply chains. 

In 2019, the European Commission issued two supplementary decisions providing more 
clarification – Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 on the methodology for the measurement of 
food waste and Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2000 on the format for the submission of 
reports. Alongside the WDF, these EU legal acts require member states to measure the mass of 
food waste on a yearly basis and report to the EU Commission at the latest 18 months after the 
end of the reporting year (for the first time by June 30, 2022 for the reporting year 2020). 

Reducing food waste is also part of the new circular economy action plan from the EU 
Commission (2020) and is currently being implemented through the “Farm to Fork Strategy”. 

In response to a proposal by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the German 
government agreed a “National Strategy for Food Waste Reduction” in February 2019. This aims 
to establish sector-specific dialogue with companies from the areas of primary production, 
processing and manufacturing, retail and other distribution of food, restaurants and food 
services and households (dialogue forums), and coordinating bodies. In the revision of the 
Circular Economy Act (KrWG – Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz) in October 2020, Article 9 (1) g) of 
the WFD (SDG 12.3) was adopted as Article 33 (3) no. 2 g) of the KrWG. This article states: “The 
waste prevention programme […] 2. shall provide for at least the following waste prevention 
measures: […] g) the reduction of food waste in primary production, processing and 
manufacturing, in retail and in other forms of food distribution, in restaurants and in catering, as 
well as in private households, in order to contribute to the United Nations sustainable 
development goal to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030 
and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses, […].“ 
(KrWG Article 33 (3) No. 2 g)). 

In order to fulfil one of the requirements of the National Strategy, an interdisciplinary working 
group on indicator SDG 12.3 – comprising the BMEL, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, 
Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV), the Thünen Institute, the 
German Environment Agency (UBA) and the Federal Statistical Office (StBA) – developed a 
method paper on reporting. During the discussions held by this working group, a monitoring 
concept was developed, which is used for the disposal of waste. The starting point is the so-
called “Food Waste Plug-In”, in which the StBA provides data to the EU Commission on a 
voluntary basis every two years for the reporting years 2012 to 2020. The StBA has thus 
voluntarily provided Eurostat with data on the amounts of waste that could contain food waste. 
 

9 This information relates to the areas of primary production, processing and manufacturing as well as wholesale. 



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In accordance with the guidance provided by Eurostat, the StBA did not provide data on the 
proportion of actual food waste as part of the Food Waste Plug-In due to a lack of data 
(especially waste coefficients). The Food Waste Plug-In thus differs from the newly developed 
monitoring concept in this respect. In addition, the Food Waste Plug-In and the current 
monitoring approach also differ with respect to the different types of waste and economic 
sectors covered.  

The BMUV and UBA have commissioned the StBA with the task of fulfilling the EU reporting 
obligation for food waste for the first time for reporting year 2020. The UBA transferred this 
responsibility to the StBA in the form of a research project in the ReFoPlan 2021 (Departmental 
research plan) on the theme “Determination of food waste in Germany in 2020, fulfilment of the 
reporting obligation to the EU Commission in 2022 and derivation of recommendations for 
action”. 



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2 Definitions 
We define the following terms to avoid any misunderstandings and make the report easier to 
understand. 

► Biowaste 

 Biowaste describes waste that is collected via biowaste bins by the corporate bodies 
responsible for waste management (public waste disposal authorities (örE)) or by 
companies commissioned by them. Biowaste can also contain small amounts of 
commercial biowaste.  
In the waste statistics, the amounts of waste from biowaste bins are recorded under the 
eight-digit waste code “20 03 01 04 – waste from biowaste bins”. 

► Campaign 

 Campaigns are repeats of already completed tests carried out to analyse the impact over 
time or to establish plausibility. In analyses of household waste and biowaste, the impact 
of seasonal changes is taken into account through one testing campaign in low vegetation 
and one in rich vegetation periods. A campaign begins with the start of an analysis on 
site and ends at the conclusion of the analysis (Intecus 2016). 

► Commercial waste 

 Household waste and, to a small extent, biowaste also always include a proportion of 
waste of commercial origin, so-called commercial waste, which is collected together with 
household waste and biowaste from private households. 

► Commercial waste similar to household waste 

 Standard commercial waste differs from commercial waste similar to household waste 
because standard commercial waste is disposed of in waste containers that are 
exclusively provided to commercial companies and which are collected separately from 
household waste. 

► Consortium 

 The waste coefficients and the amount of food waste utilised for home composting were 
determined by a subcontractor within the research project. The subcontractor also 
identified recommendations for action to reduce food waste. This subcontractor was a 
consortium consisting of the “Witzenhausen-Institut für Abfall, Umwelt und Energie 
GmbH (WI)”, “ARGUS-Statistik und Informationssysteme in Umwelt und Gesundheit 
GmbH (ARGUS)”, the “Institut für Abfall, Abwasser und Infrastruktur-Management GmbH 
(INFA)” and the “Institut für Siedlungswasserbau, Wassergüte- und Abfallwirtschaft der 
Universität Stuttgart (USTUTT)”. 

► Dialogue forums 

 The aim of the sector-specific dialogue forums initiated by the BMEL is to bring together 
stakeholders from the food sector, from organisations within civil society, responsible 
government authorities and from science for the purpose of reaching agreements on 
reducing food waste and developing specific measures for their respective sector. The 
dialogue forums focus on the entire food supply chain in order to identify the best 



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possible starting points for reducing food waste and promoting the implementation of 
sector-specific action plans (BMEL 2021). 

► Economic sector 

 An economic sector describes a group of companies or facilities that produce similar 
products or provide similar services as part of economic activities (StBA 2023b). The 
economic sectors or activities are classified in Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 
according to the codes in NACE Rev. 2 (2008). 

► Food waste 

 The definition of “food” laid down in Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council encompasses food as a whole, along the entire food supply 
chain from production until consumption. Food also includes inedible parts, where those 
were not separated from the edible parts when the food was produced, such as bones 
attached to meat destined for human consumption. Hence, food waste can comprise 
items which include parts of food intended to be ingested and parts of food not intended 
to be ingested. 

► Household waste 

 Household waste is waste primarily from private households that is regularly collected, 
transported and prepared for disposal by the municipal authorities responsible for 
waste disposal or by third parties commissioned by them (German government 1993). 
Household waste is usually disposed of in residual waste bins and recorded under waste 
code 20 03 01 01. 

► Material groups 

 In order to determine the composition of the waste, it is split into its different fractions 
(material groups). This process is carried out by screening (visual division) or sorting 
(manual division) (Intecus 2016). 

► Mixed municipal waste 

 Municipal waste is waste from private households and comparable premises, as well as 
commercial and industrial waste similar to household waste. This municipal waste 
includes household and bulky waste, organic and garden waste, and materials such as 
paper and packaging (Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport 
(MUNV) North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) 2022; BMUV 2020). Mixed municipal waste is 
recorded under waste code 20 03 01. 

► Native organic waste 

 Native organic waste is processed and unprocessed kitchen waste and food scraps, 
garden waste and other organic waste (Dornbusch et al. 2020). 

► Other waste codes 

 “Other waste codes” are understood in this investigation as all waste that is recorded 
under the waste codes listed in Annex II of Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597. An 
exception is waste code 20 03 01 (mixed municipal waste). This is investigated 
separately. 



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► Stages of the food supply chain 

 The stages of the food supply chain cover all steps from the production of food through 
to its consumption by the end consumer. Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 defines the 
following five stages of the food supply chain: 1. Primary production, 2. Processing and 
m