scholarly journals Leftover Consumption as a Means of Food Waste Reduction in Public Space? Qualitative Insights from Online Discussions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13564
Author(s):  
Larissa Diekmann ◽  
Claas Christian Germelmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Individual Consumer ◽  
Other Consumers

A considerable amount of food is discarded in canteens every day. This waste has created a countermovement, where groups of mainly students purposefully choose to eat other consumers’ plate leftovers instead of buying fresh meals. This phenomenon highlights two opposing narratives: leftovers as food waste versus leftovers as edible food resources. Using a thematic analysis, we investigated 1579 comments from German news sites and their corresponding Facebook sites related to this countermovement. Thereby, we aim to better understand what consumers associate with the consumption of other consumers’ plate leftovers. Our study demonstrates that the consumption of plate leftovers is shaped by the regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive system. Furthermore, associations with the consumption of plate leftovers depend on whether this food decision is perceived as a collective or individual consumer decision. From a consumer movement perspective, food leftover consumption is associated with a sense of community and food waste reduction for idealistic or environmental and social reasons. From an individual consumer behavior perspective, food leftover consumption is associated with satisfying hunger but considered a threat to health and social order. Our findings can inspire food service organizations to develop targeted interventions for plate leftover reduction.

scholarly journals Systematic literature review of food waste in educational institutions: setting the research agenda

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Puneet Kaur ◽  
Amandeep Dhir ◽  
Shalini Talwar ◽  
Melfi Alrasheedy
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
Behavioural Aspects

Purpose In the recent past, academic researchers have noted the quantity of food wasted in food service establishments in educational institutions. However, more granular inputs are required to counter the challenge posed. The purpose of this study is to undertake a review of the prior literature in the area to provide a platform for future research. Design/methodology/approach Towards this end, the authors used a robust search protocol to identify 88 congruent studies to review and critically synthesize. The research profiling of the selected studies revealed limited studies conducted on food service establishments in universities. The research is also less dispersed geographically, remaining largely focused on the USA. Thereafter, the authors performed content analysis to identify seven themes around which the findings of prior studies were organized. Findings The key themes of the reviewed studies are the drivers of food waste, quantitative assessment of food waste, assessment of the behavioural aspects of food waste, operational strategies for reducing food waste, interventions for inducing behavioural changes to mitigate food waste, food diversion and food waste disposal processes and barriers to the implementation of food waste reduction strategies. Research limitations/implications This study has key theoretical and practical implications. From the perspective of research, the study revealed various gaps in the extant findings and suggested potential areas that can be examined by academic researchers from the perspective of the hospitality sector. From the perspective of practice, the study recommended actionable strategies to help managers mitigate food waste. Originality/value The authors have made a novel contribution to the research on food waste reduction by identifying theme-based research gaps, suggesting potential research questions and proposing a framework based on the open-systems approach to set the future research agenda.

scholarly journals Antecedents of Consumer Food Waste Reduction Behavior: Psychological and Financial Concerns through the Lens of the Theory of Interpersonal Behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 12457
Author(s):  
Saman Attiq ◽  
Amanda Chu ◽  
Rauf Azam ◽  
Wing-Keung Wong ◽  
Sumia Mumtaz
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Partial Least Square ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Financial Concern ◽  
The Impact

This study sought to investigate the role of consumers’ emotional, cognitive, and financial concerns in the development of food waste reduction, reuse, and recycling behavior among restaurant patrons. Food waste in restaurants is a major problem for the food service industry, and it is a growing source of concern in developing countries, where eating out is becoming increasingly popular. A large portion of restaurant food waste in these markets originates from the plates of customers, highlighting the importance of consumer behavior changes in reducing waste. The current study has used a quantitative approach to analyze the impact of anticipated negative emotion of guilt, awareness of consequences, habit, and financial concern on food waste reduction behaviors, i.e., reduce, reuse, and recycle. The study collected 492 responses and data is analyzed for hypotheses testing through Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling. The findings showed that anticipated negative emotions of guilt, awareness of consequences, habit, and financial concern have a significant impact on restaurants’ consumer food waste reduction behaviors. Managers, policymakers, and researchers interested in resolving the food waste problem will find the study useful. Other topics discussed include the implications and limitations as well as possible future research directions.

scholarly journals Quantifying Avoidable Food Waste and Identifying Its Underlying Causes: A Case Study of a University Dormitory in Thailand

2021 ◽  
pp. 55-67
Author(s):  
Shimpei Iwasaki ◽  
Suphat Prasopsin ◽  
Thamarat Phutthai
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
Policies And Programs

To develop well-planned and effective policies and programs for reducing avoidable food waste, it is important to quantify the actual food waste level in particular settings and assess relationships among consumers’ awareness, attitudes, and behaviors. Recognizing these considerations, this paper measured avoidable food waste generated by university students living in dormitory buildings and identified its underlying causes in the case of Kanchanaburi campus, Mahidol University, Thailand. The study applied a food waste composition survey 18 times between January and May 2019 while administering questionnaires in October 2019 to the dormitory students. Based on these measures, the study identified 1,417 instances of avoidable food waste. Approximately half of the avoidable food waste had not even been eaten. Most of this waste was generated by female students. Some factors in terms of motivation, opportunity, and ability using a Motivation, Opportunity, Ability framework were found to have induced more food waste among female students. Due attention to the effect of avoidable food waste reduction includes educating dormitory students about food waste as well as more space and increased visibility of stored food in shared refrigerators. Targeting university students for reducing avoidable food waste in the setting of everyday life in dormitories is needed rather than simply focusing on the food service sector on campus.

scholarly journals Understanding the Effect of Dining and Motivational Factors on Out-Of-Home Consumer Food Waste

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 6507
Author(s):  
Francesca Goodman-Smith ◽  
Romain Mirosa ◽  
Miranda Mirosa
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Motivational Factors ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Plate Waste ◽  
Total Food ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Saving Measure

Approximately 12% of total food waste is generated at the hospitality and food service level. Previous research has focused on kitchen and storeroom operations; however, 34% of food waste in the sector is uneaten food on consumers’ plates, known as “plate waste”. The effect of situational dining factors and motivational factors on plate waste was analysed in a survey of 1001 New Zealand consumers. A statistically significantly greater proportion (p < 0.05) of participants reported plate waste if the meal was more expensive, longer in duration or at dinnertime. Irrespective of age or gender, saving money was the most important motivating factor, followed by saving hungry people, saving the planet and, lastly, preventing guilt. Successful food waste reduction campaigns will frame reduction as a cost-saving measure. As awareness of the environmental and social costs of food waste builds, multifactorial campaigns appealing to economic, environmental and social motivators will be most effective.

scholarly journals Food Waste in Healthcare, Business and Hospitality Catering: Composition, Environmental Impacts and Reduction Potential on Company and National Levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3288
Author(s):  
Toni Meier ◽  
Torsten von Borstel ◽  
Birgit Welte ◽  
Brennan Hogan ◽  
Steven M. Finn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Reduction Potential ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Environmental Footprints ◽  
Management Schemes ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Near Future

Background: As the reduction of food wastage remains one of our most critical challenges, we quantified the environmental impacts of food losses in the food-service sector in Germany, with a particular focus on the subsectors of business, healthcare and hospitality. Methods: Using the food-waste data of 7 catering companies, 1545 measurement days and 489,185 served meals during two 4–6 week monitoring periods, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) according to ISO standard 14040/44 was conducted. Within the LCA, the carbon, water (blue) and land footprints, and the ecological scarcity in terms of eco-points, were calculated. Results: We show that the waste generated in the food-service sector in Germany is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions of 4.9 million tons CO2-equivalents (CO2e), a water use of 103,057 m3 and a land demand of 322,838 ha, equating to a total of 278 billion eco-points per year. Subsector-specifically, in hospitality catering: 1 kg of food waste accounts for 3.4 kg CO2e, 61.1 L water and 2.6 m2 land (208 eco-points); in healthcare: 2.9 kg CO2e, 48.4 L and 1.9 m2 land (150 eco-points); and in business: 2.3 kg CO2e, 72 L water and 1.0–1.4 m2 land (109–141 eco-points). Meal-specifically, the environmental footprints vary between 1.5 and 8.0 kg CO2e, 23.2–226.1 L water and 0.3–7.1 m2 per kg food waste. Conclusions: If robust food waste management schemes are implemented in the near future and take the waste-reduction potential in the food-service sector into account, Target 12.3 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals—which calls for halving food waste by 2030—is within reach.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Canteens at Elementary Schools, Upper Secondary Schools and Workplaces that Comply with Food Service Guidelines and Have a Greater Focus on Food Waste

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Lassen ◽  
Lene Christensen ◽  
Max Spooner ◽  
Ellen Trolle
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Upper Secondary Schools

Policy actions to improve the nutritional environment include the provision of official food service guidelines. This study aimed to examine compliance with food service guidelines for hot meals as well as self-evaluated focus on food waste reduction across settings, i.e., elementary schools, upper secondary schools and workplaces, and different canteen characteristics. The same five criteria for hot meals were applied for all settings with regard to serving of fruit and vegetables, fish, wholegrain product and high fat meat and dairy products. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted as a cross-sectional study among 680 Danish canteens. Canteens having a high degree of organic food procurement were more likely to comply with the five criteria for hot meals combined (OR 2.00 (Cl 1.13,3.53)). Also, the use of organic food together with having a meal policy was associated with reported focus on food waste reduction (OR 1.91 (CI 1.12,3.25) and 1.84 (Cl 1.31,2.59), respectively). Compliance with individual criteria varied across settings with elementary schools being more likely to comply with criteria on, e.g., maximum serving of non-wholegrain products, whereas workplaces were more likely to comply with criteria on, e.g., minimum fruit and vegetable content and serving of fish. In addition, specific characteristics, e.g., serving system, were found to predict compliance with some of the criteria. These findings highlight the need to address differences in canteen characteristics when planning implementation support for both guideline and food waste reduction initiatives.

scholarly journals From Old Habits to New Routines—A Case Study of Food Waste Generation and Reduction in Four Swedish Schools

Resources ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Christine Persson Osowski ◽  
Dariusz Osowski ◽  
Kristina Johansson ◽  
Niina Sundin ◽  
Christopher Malefors ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Plate Waste ◽  
Stressful Environment ◽  
The Common ◽  
High Degree ◽  
And Storage

Public food service organizations are large producers of food waste, which leads to greenhouse gas emissions and the waste of natural resources. The aim of the present article was to gain insight into reasons for food waste and possible solutions for lowering food waste in schools in Sweden. In order to do so, food waste quantification in school canteens in two Swedish municipalities and nine qualitative interviews with key actors were conducted. Both municipalities displayed a high degree of variation in food waste, but the common pattern was that serving waste constituted the largest fraction of food waste, followed by plate waste and storage waste, as well as a gradual decrease in food waste over time. Food waste was mainly a result of old, disadvantageous habits, such as overproduction due to forecasting difficulties, whereas new, better routines such as serving fewer options, better planning, and a less stressful environment are the key to lowering food waste. Because food waste varies from one case to the next, it becomes important to identify and measure the causes of food waste in each school in order to be able to establish tailor-made, conscious, and flexible food waste mitigation routines.

scholarly journals Drivers and Determinants of Food Waste Generation in Restaurants Serving Mediterranean Mezze-Type Cuisine

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6358
Author(s):  
Ali Chalak ◽  
Hussein F. Hassan ◽  
Pamela Aoun ◽  
Mohamad G. Abiad
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Hospitality Industry ◽  
Food Service ◽  
High Price ◽  
Waste Generation ◽  
Water Pipe ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Price Range

Food waste from the food service and hospitality industry is increasing, especially in Mezze serving restaurants, where a variety of dishes are usually served. To date, information on the factors affecting food waste generation in restaurants is scarce. This study aimed to identify the drivers and determinants of food waste generation while dining out at restaurants serving Mezze-type cuisine. According to the results from a convenience sample of 496 restaurant clientele, gender, age, and marital status did not affect food waste generation. Diners in both low and high price range restaurants waste above the grand mean compared to middle-range ones. Waste generation decreased significantly as the number of diners per table increased. However, ordering water-pipe, alcohol, or more dishes contributed significantly to food waste generation. As food waste is not the outcome of a single behavior, our study puts food waste generation drivers and determinants while dining out in perspective.

scholarly journals Perceptions of Food Waste Reduction in Sri Lanka’s Commercial Capital, Colombo

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 838
Author(s):  
Maren Reitemeier ◽  
Mohamed Aheeyar ◽  
Pay Drechsel
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Livestock Sector ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Open Markets ◽  
Management Challenge

In 2019, Sri Lanka introduced two policies that referred to food waste and the need to reduce it. To understand key stakeholders’ readiness in this context, this study analyzed the food waste perceptions of private and public sectors in Colombo (open markets, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, canteens, food caterers and key authorities). Interviews were carried out with operational managers and public officials, as well as other stakeholders who have roles in food waste redistribution and reuse, such as NGOs and the livestock sector. So far, the food-waste-related policy recommendations lack an operational inter-institutional home which can build on measures, like standards, regulations and incentives. Thus, most food waste reduction initiatives are initiated by NGOs or by the private sector, e.g., by larger hotels and supermarket chains. These entities were ready to lead by example, based on the understanding that urban food waste is an internal (financial) management challenge. Among smaller local entities, food waste was perceived more as an external issue to be handled by the city’s waste collection services. Although perceptions varied between entities generating smaller or larger quantities of food waste, there was general agreement that suboptimal capacities and mechanisms to quantify, monitor and cost food waste generation appeared to be obstacles for in-depth awareness creation and action. There was significant interest in communication platforms for cross-sectoral learning, win/win collaborations with reliable collection (reuse) services that are currently operational, such as those provided by piggeries, as well as surplus redistribution initiatives if food safety and related liabilities can be addressed effectively.

The carceral production of transgender poverty: How racialized gender policing deprives transgender women of housing and safety

2021 ◽  
pp. 146247452110178
Author(s):  
Dilara Yarbrough
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Transgender Women ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Survival Strategies ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Gender Policing ◽  
Transitional Living ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Racialized Gender

Based on interviews and ethnography, this article analyzes how racialized gender policing in public space and service organizations deprives transgender women of survival resources. Although transgender women are disproportionately the targets of enforcement, most studies of the criminalization of homelessness, drug use, sex work and migration exclude their experiences. Studies that do include transgender women often focus narrowly on anti-prostitution laws and enforcement, overlooking other laws and policies that contribute to criminalization and poverty. This article analyzes the confluence between policing of transgender women’s identities and survival strategies in public space and in agencies meant to serve poor people (including shelters, drug treatment facilities and transitional living programs). Laws regulating access to public space combine with rules regulating gender in service organizations to both criminalize and create transgender poverty. More broadly, the carceral production of transgender poverty demonstrates that criminalization is not only a consequence but also a cause of both poverty and inequality.

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