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Food Waste in Sri Lanka: Figures and Solutions
By Exfoody · Updated 12 October 2026
UNEP estimates that Sri Lankan households generate about 1.66 million tonnes of food waste a year, or 76 kg per person. These figures include both edible and inedible material. They are not an estimate of food available for redistribution.
How much food waste does Sri Lanka generate?
The UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024 gives Sri Lanka a household estimate of 1,656,148 tonnes per year and 76 kg per person per year. It rates confidence in this national estimate as medium. The report uses existing studies and estimation methods; this is not a new nationwide measurement taken in 2024.
What do these numbers include?
Household food waste includes edible food and associated inedible parts, such as peels and bones. Retail, restaurant and hotel waste is outside this household figure. Losses before the retail stage are also separate. It would therefore be misleading to say all 1.66 million tonnes could be sold, donated or eaten.
Food waste, food loss and surplus food
Food waste concerns food discarded at retail and consumer stages. Food loss concerns losses earlier in the supply chain, such as storage and transport before retail. Surplus food is food available beyond a business's expected sales or requirements. Edible surplus can sometimes be shared or sold before it becomes waste.
Practical ways to reduce avoidable waste
Households can plan meals, check what they already have and buy quantities they expect to use. Food businesses can record unsold items, review portion sizes and production quantities, and identify edible surplus early enough for collection. Redistribution only addresses food that remains suitable to eat.
Where Exfoody fits
Exfoody is preparing a free service in Sri Lanka to connect customers and food businesses around edible surplus. It is not yet accepting live reservations on this preview. The household figures explain the wider challenge; they do not predict Exfoody’s supply or impact.
Source and scope
UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024, Annex 2, Sri Lanka household estimate. Figures reproduced as estimates, not as measured platform outcomes.