Testing interventions to reduce food waste in school catering

Christopher Malefors,Niina Sundin,Malou Tromp,Mattias Eriksson

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105997

Christopher Malefors, Niina Sundin + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105997

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Abstract

Food waste is a problem that needs to be addressed to achieve sustainable development. There is a need for interventions that can reduce food waste, including in organisations already aware of the food waste problem. Swedish school canteens have experience of food waste reduction, but need tools to achieve further reductions. This study tested four interventions (tasting spoons, awareness campaign, a plate waste tracker and a guest forecasting tool) designed to reduce food waste in school canteens. Each intervention was introduced in two school canteens, while seven school canteens acted as a reference group. The interventions were compared with baseline food waste before the intervention and with the reference group. All interventions reduced total food waste (by 6 to 44 g/guest) compared with the baseline, but the reference group also reduced its food waste. The awareness campaign reduced plate waste most, by 13 g per portion, which was 6 g/portion more than the plate waste reduction in the reference group. The forecasting and plate waste tracker interventions reduced serving waste most, by 34 and 38 g/portion, compared with 11 g/portion in the reference group. Some interventions also had an effect on waste fractions they were not designed to target, affecting the total waste by shifting the waste. Interventions should always be seen in a context and be implemented in combinations that increase overall sustainability. Thus forecasting is an effective way to reduce serving waste, plate waste tracker and awareness campaign are effective tools to reduce plate waste in school canteens.

Highlights

There is a global problem with food waste in the food service sector, with some studies claiming that approximately 20% of all food served is wasted (e.g. Engstrom and Carlsson-Kanyama 2004; Katajajuuri et al 2014; Eriksson, Persson Osowski, Malefors, Bjorkman, and Eriksson, 2017; Malefors, 2021; Malefors et al, 2019; Silvennoinen, Heikkila, Katajajuuri, and Reinikainen, 2015)
The reference group reduced its levels of food waste during the study period, indicating a general trend for reduced food waste in the participating canteens
The awareness campaign was the only intervention that reduced this fraction of food waste by more than in the reference group

Summary

Introduction

There is a global problem with food waste in the food service sector, with some studies claiming that approximately 20% of all food served is wasted (e.g. Engstrom and Carlsson-Kanyama 2004; Katajajuuri et al 2014; Eriksson, Persson Osowski, Malefors, Bjorkman, and Eriksson, 2017; Malefors, 2021; Malefors et al, 2019; Silvennoinen, Heikkila, Katajajuuri, and Reinikainen, 2015). For school meals, which are part of the food service sector, studies have found that food waste levels ranging from 33 to 160 g/guest are not uncommon (Boschini, Falasconi, Cica tiello, and Franco, 2020; Eriksson et al, 2017). Food waste of this magnitude raises a series of issues. Efforts are underway to curb the food waste problem One such global initiative is the United Nations framework for sustainable development (United Nations, 2015), which includes reduction of food waste under target 12.3 of the Sustainable Develop ment Goals: “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chain”. Some argue that this level of ambition is not high enough and that further reductions are necessary to create a food system that can meet the target by 2050 (Beretta and Hellweg 2019; Spring mann et al, 2018)

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