A Waste Management Behavioural Framework of Singapore’s Food Manufacturing Industry using Factor Analysis

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There has been a great deal of research interest in applying industrial symbiosis in the food manufacturing industry as part of the industry-wide shift towards sustainable manufacturing. However, an evaluation of its participation rates first requires an in-depth understanding of the factors that influence the manufacturers’ waste management behaviours and decision-making process. This paper attempts to propose a comprehensive waste management behavioural framework for the food manufacturing industry by building on the works of previous waste management behavioural studies, most notably Young et al.’s work on employee pro-environmental behaviour. The proposed framework was validated through an exploratory survey conducted on a representative group of waste managers from Singapore’s food manufacturing industry. Using exploratory factor analysis, we identified Intention, Perceived Moral Obligation, Company Structure, and Situational Barriers to be the most significant factors influencing the waste manager’s waste management decisions. Based on these results, several policy recommendations were proposed which focus on the education of industrial symbiosis to the leaders of the organisation. The findings from this paper will provide valuable insights into the manufacturer’s waste management decision-making process, as well as a more human-centric framework for the conduct of future industrial symbiosis studies in the food manufacturing industry.