Abstract
The harmful tourist behaviour of taking a lot of food from a buffet, but not eating it all, remains under-researched. This study gains key insights into drivers of plate waste. Observational data show that: dinner buffets are worse than breakfast buffets; the latest breakfast serving time is worse than the earliest; high-end breakfast buffets are worse than budget buffets. The first meal a guest eats at a hotel and the presence of children also lead to more plate waste. Staff offer consistent and plausible explanations for these observations, resulting in a comprehensive model of drivers of plate waste. This model offers a basis for intervention development to reduce plate waste and by so doing minimise environmental damage caused by the tourism industry.
Highlights
The food supply chain is responsible for 43% of global land use, uses two thirds of withdrawn fresh water, and contributes 23% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (CO2eq) emissions (Poore & Nemecek, 2018)
Staff offer consistent and plausible explanations for these observations, resulting in a comprehensive model of drivers of plate waste. This model offers a basis for intervention development to reduce plate waste and by so doing minimise environmental damage caused by the tourism industry
Based on both the quantitative analysis of the actual plate waste data generated at hotel buffets, and the thematic analysis of the explanations offered by hotel restaurant staff, we develop a comprehensive conceptual model of drivers of plate waste
Summary
The food supply chain is responsible for 43% of global land use, uses two thirds of withdrawn fresh water, and contributes 23% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (CO2eq) emissions (Poore & Nemecek, 2018). Producing food requires a lot of energy, water and chemicals (Foley, Ramankutty, Brauman, et al, 2011). If the food is not eaten, and instead disposed of in landfill, it causes environmental damage through land use and the production of powerful CO2eq emissions (Papargyropoulou et al, 2016). One kilogram of food waste causes 1.9 kg of CO2eq (BIO Intelligence, 2010). Total food waste emissions are equivalent to 87% of global road transport emissions (FAO, 2019). Reducing food waste by 38% could reduce the negative impact on climate by 40% and on biodiversity by 30% (Beretta & Hellweg, 2019)
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