Although China’s food waste recycling has been carried out for nearly 10 years, the effect is still not good, and there are some gaps with developed countries. This study reviews the present status and main problems of food waste treatment in China as well as the successful Swedish food waste treatment model. This study calculates the food waste volumes in the city scale (Beijing) and the national scale (the whole of China) , and estimates the biogas potential of anaerobic digestion from food waste. The result shows that from 2013 to 2017, the total amount of food waste from household and restaurants in Beijing was on average 5.4 million tons per year which could have produced 3 524 million m3 of biogas. These quantities of biogas could have generated 5.3 TWh of electricity, equivalent to 2.1 tons of standard coal. If used as a gas fuel, it is equivalent to 813 million liters of diesel, or 1084 million liters of gasoline. The CO2 emissions that could have been saved were approximately 5.3 million tons, 2.1 million tons, and 2.5 million tons, when the biogas replaces standard coal, diesel and gasoline, respectively. The food waste production of China was on average 153.2 million tons per year with 99 712 million m3 of biogas potential. This study also proposes a framework for food waste collection, transportation, biogas production, and product utilization inspired from the Swedish system. The feasibility from the perspective of circular economy is also discussed. Finally, suggestions are made on the main problems in the current treatment of food waste in China like people’s awareness of food waste sorting which should be enhanced through various means. The food waste separation infrastructure and transportation system should be improved, and necessary reward and punishment measures should be implemented to promote the separation and treatment of food waste by individuals and public or private entities.