Quantifying household food waste in Kuwait: day-of-week patterns, behaviors, and food security implications

Introduction Food waste is a modifiable contributor to climate change and food insecurity, yet household-level measurement data in Kuwait remain limited. This study aimed to quantify household food waste during a short monitoring period and identify day-of-week patterns in waste generation. Methods Using a 15-day food waste diary, 150 households recorded the weight and composition of daily waste (excess, expired, non-edible) followed by a post-monitoring period questionnaire. Results Food waste declined from 12.5 kg per household in week 1 to 11.7 kg per household in week 2. A 5.8% reduction in food waste occurred from week 1 to week 2. Fridays and Mondays recorded the highest waste, while Wednesdays and Saturdays recorded the lowest. Excess food constituted most food waste in both weeks. Discussion Findings provide short-term household-level waste estimates and identify temporal patterns and composition of waste discarded. Although these results reflect a short monitoring period, they highlight peak waste days and main behaviors contributing to waste generation, which can help inform initiatives aimed at reducing food waste.