Conceptual framework for the study of food waste generation and prevention in the hospitality sector.

Food waste has significant detrimental economic, environmental and social impacts. The magnitude and complexity of the global food waste problem has brought it to the forefront of the environmental agenda; however, there has been little research on the patterns and drivers of food waste generation, especially outside the household. This is partially due to weaknesses in the methodological approaches used to understand such a complex problem. This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework to identify and explain the patterns and drivers of food waste generation in the hospitality sector, with the aim of identifying food waste prevention measures. This conceptual framework integrates data collection and analysis methods from ethnography and grounded theory, complemented with concepts and tools from industrial ecology for the analysis of quantitative data. A case study of food waste generation at a hotel restaurant in Malaysia is used as an example to illustrate how this conceptual framework can be applied. The conceptual framework links the biophysical and economic flows of food provisioning and waste generation, with the social and cultural practices associated with food preparation and consumption. The case study demonstrates that food waste is intrinsically linked to the way we provision and consume food, the material and socio-cultural context of food consumption and food waste generation. Food provisioning, food consumption and food waste generation should be studied together in order to fully understand how, where and most importantly why food waste is generated. This understanding will then enable to draw detailed, case specific food waste prevention plans addressing the material and socio-economic aspects of food waste generation.

[1]  Christine Göbel,et al.  Food waste in the Swiss food service industry - Magnitude and potential for reduction. , 2015, Waste management.

[2]  Matti Melanen,et al.  How Can the Eco‐efficiency of a Region be Measured and Monitored? , 2005 .

[3]  K. Charmaz,et al.  The sage handbook of grounded theory , 2007 .

[4]  Philip E. T. Lewis,et al.  Research Methods for Business Students (2nd edition) , 2000 .

[5]  R. Padfield.  Neoliberalism and the polarizing water geographies of the Zambian Copperbelt , 2011 .

[6]  K. Hetherington,et al.  Secondhandedness: Consumption, Disposal, and Absent Presence , 2004 .

[7]  C. Kuroiwa,et al.  Hospital medical waste management in Shandong Province, China , 2009, Waste management & research : the journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA.

[8]  Camilo Cornejo,et al.  Food Waste Auditing at Three Florida Schools , 2015 .

[9]  Ella Graham-Rowe,et al.  Identifying motivations and barriers to minimising household food waste , 2014 .

[10]  Lisa M. Ellram,et al.  Causes of waste across multi-tier supply networks: Cases in the UK food sector , 2014 .

[11]  A. Windsperger.  INDUSTRIAL METABOLISM , 2022 .

[12]  U. Sonesson,et al.  Global food losses and food waste: extent, causes and prevention , 2011 .

[13]  P. Atkinson.  Handbook of ethnography , 2001 .

[14]  Philip E. T. Lewis,et al.  Research Methods for Business Students , 2006 .

[15]  M. Sahakian,et al.  Energy Reduction Through a Deeper Understanding of Household Consumption , 2011 .

[16]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[17]  T. E. Quested,et al.  Spaghetti Soup: The Complex World of Food Waste Behaviours , 2013 .

[18]  Kate Parizeau,et al.  Household-level dynamics of food waste production and related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours in Guelph, Ontario. , 2015, Waste management.

[19]  Nicky Gregson,et al.  Moving up the waste hierarchy: Car boot sales, reuse exchange and the challenges of consumer culture to waste prevention , 2013 .

[20]  Walter Fernandez,et al.  What Grounded Theory Is…A Critically Reflective Conversation Among Scholars , 2015 .

[21]  Robert Gabriel,et al.  Eco‐efficiency Analysis: Applications and User Contacts , 2005 .

[22]  Mario Schmidt,et al.  The Sankey Diagram in Energy and Material Flow Management , 2008 .

[23]  David S. Evans,et al.  Food Waste: Home Consumption, Material Culture and Everyday Life , 2014 .

[24]  Ni-Bin Chang,et al.  Solid waste management in European countries: a review of systems analysis techniques. , 2011, Journal of environmental management.

[25]  M. Fischer-Kowalski,et al.  Society's Metabolism , 1998 .

[26]  C. Brodsky.  The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research , 1968 .

[27]  Stefanie Hellweg,et al.  Quantifying food losses and the potential for reduction in Switzerland. , 2013, Waste management.

[28]  Miranda Mirosa,et al.  Getting a taste for food waste: a mixed methods ethnographic study into hospital food waste before patient consumption conducted at three New Zealand foodservice facilities. , 2014, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

[29]  J. Gill,et al.  Research Methods For Managers , 1991 .

[30]  J. Friedrichs,et al.  Participant observation: Theory and practice , 1975 .

[31]  David Evans,et al.  Beyond the Throwaway Society: Ordinary Domestic Practice and a Sociological Approach to Household Food Waste , 2012 .

[32]  Anna De Fina,et al.  The ethnographic interview , 2019, The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Ethnography.

[33]  Gary Goggins,et al.  Beyond calorie counting: assessing the sustainability of food provided for public consumption , 2016 .

[34]  P. Brunner,et al.  Metabolism of the Anthroposphere , 1991 .

[35]  G. Huppes,et al.  A Framework for Quantified Eco‐efficiency Analysis , 2005 .

[36]  R. Lozano.  A Holistic Perspective on Corporate Sustainability Drivers , 2015 .

[37]  Helmut Rechberger,et al.  Practical handbook of material flow analysis , 2003 .

[38]  Gjalt Huppes,et al.  Eco-efficiency for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation of municipal solid waste management: a case study of Tianjin, China. , 2011, Waste management.

[39]  A. Strauss.  Basics Of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[40]  K. Charmaz,et al.  Constructing Grounded Theory , 2014 .

[41]  Mohd Talib Latif,et al.  Research agendas for the sustainable management of tropical peatland in Malaysia , 2014, Environmental Conservation.

[42]  Charles Abraham,et al.  What drives car use? A grounded theory analysis of commuters’ reasons for driving. , 2007 .

[43]  Sonya C. Newenhouse,et al.  Qualitative methods add value to waste characterization studies , 2000 .

[44]  P G Flachsbart,et al.  Characterization of food waste generators: a Hawaii case study. , 2008, Waste management.

[45]  N. G. Wright,et al.  The food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of food surplus and food waste , 2014 .

[46]  David Evans,et al.  Waste matters: new perspectives of food and society. , 2013 .

[47]  R. Emerson,et al.  Participant Observation and Fieldnotes , 2001 .

[48]  Edeltraud Guenther,et al.  Interrelating material flow cost accounting with management control systems to introduce resource efficiency into strategy , 2015 .

[49]  Giuseppe Ioppolo,et al.  From Theory to Practice: Enhancing the Potential Policy Impact of Industrial Ecology , 2015 .

[50]  A. Perego,et al.  Opening the black box of food waste reduction , 2014 .

[51]  Tom Quested,et al.  Food and drink waste from households in the UK , 2011 .

[52]  D. Mercer,et al.  Gleaning from Gluttony: an Australian youth subculture confronts the ethics of waste , 2007 .

[53]  Ian D. Williams,et al.  Social, cultural and structural influences on household waste recycling: A case study , 2006 .

[54]  Hassan A. Arafat,et al.  Reduction of food waste generation in the hospitality industry , 2016 .