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

Abstract

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.

Factors influencing implementation of food and food-related waste audits in hospital foodservices

“…Appropriately applying the consensus pathway food waste audit tool may then promote possible outcomes such as decreases in waste, monetary savings and workflow enhancements. Moreover, if the use of the consensus tool is magnified to other food providing institutions experiencing high amounts of food waste such as aged care, prisons and childcare ( 37 ), this could have large influences on the economic, social and environmental impacts associated with food waste ( 38 ). This may promote reputational sustainability within these organisations or industries and ( 39 ) will contribute to the actions required to meet UN SDG 12.3 ( 3 ).…”

Consumer-Related Antecedents of Waste Behavior in Online Food Ordering: A Study among Young Adults in China

“…Evaluation and feedback systems for assessing the quality, taste, hygiene, nutrition, and other information related to the restaurant's meals should be improved to enhance perceived behavioral control among consumers. In addition, education on sustainable food consumption and shopping planning strategies and knowledge about the resource and environmental impacts of food production should be strengthened to provide consumers a stronger perception of reducing food waste [5] and its related issues such as carbon emissions and the inefficient use of land, water, and labor [39,89,90]. This information will help promote moral responsibility among consumers, and thus change their attitudes and behaviors to reduce waste.…”

Quantifying waste and its costs in hospital foodservices

“…6 Another recent study has compared the emissions associated with food waste produced in healthcare with other foodservice sectors, finding greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and eco-points were highest for hospitality followed by healthcare and then business. 7 Measuring waste is important to provide a baseline to understand the current situation, model the impact of different waste reduction strategies, and monitor progress. Attempts to measure food waste have been the focus of recent government policy directives at the national, state and local levels in Australia.…”

“…Thiel et al reported that the annual carbon emissions associated with food and packaging waste from foodservices in one New York hospital (294 466 kg CO 2 e per year) was equivalent to the emissions produced by 64 standard US passenger cars 6 . Another recent study has compared the emissions associated with food waste produced in healthcare with other foodservice sectors, finding greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and eco‐points were highest for hospitality followed by healthcare and then business 7 …”