The Challenge of Food Waste Governance in Cities: Case Study of Consumer Perspectives in Los Angeles

Daniel N Warshawsky

doi:10.3390/su11030847

Abstract

Food waste has been linked with food insecurity, environmental degradation, and economic inefficiency. Although research on food waste has increased recently, food waste tends to be poorly conceptualized and is often disproportionality focused on local consumer decisions. For this reason, this paper critically analyzes perspectives on food waste in Los Angeles (LA) as a case study in order to understand the structural challenges of food waste governance in cities. To achieve this goal, this study uses content analysis of interview data of key stakeholders in LA’s food system and descriptive statistical analysis of survey data of university undergraduate students in LA. Findings in this paper suggest that students purchase, consume, and waste food in line with broader national trends in the U.S. Additionally, students indicated that the causes and solutions of food waste management lies with more responsible individual decisions and sustainable local food practices. While students noted that they may have acted differently towards food waste reduction if structural opportunities existed, results from the survey reveal that the role of corporations, global food system flows, and the political economy of food production remain relatively unrecognized by students in their perceptions of food waste. Although responsible consumer practices are clearly an important aspect of food waste reduction, findings in this paper suggest that food waste governance may be limited by a narrow local consumer focus.

Highlights

Food waste is one of the world’s most pressing global challenges
Researchers have increased attention on the structure, flows, and outcomes of food waste. This has included scholarship that focuses on the psychology of consumer food waste behaviors and perspectives [6,7,8,9,10], circular economy studies to close or reduce material resource loops [11,12], life-cycle perspectives to assess holistic impact of food waste flows [13], industrial ecology studies to reassess how to reuse waste [14], and collaborative consumption frameworks which often emphasize the value of the sharing economy as a way to reduce food waste [15,16]
As noted by many scholars within a political ecology framework [19,20,21,22], food waste continues to be conceptualized as the result of individual decisions, even though food waste is created from production to consumption in the food system [5,23,24,25]

Summary

Introduction

Food waste can be defined as food loss or spoilage during harvest [1], food consumed [2], food for animals [3], or a set of social relations [4], food waste is defined here as any edible food that is lost during the food system [5]. To this end, researchers have increased attention on the structure, flows, and outcomes of food waste. The lens of political ecology is partial and not capable of elucidating all complexities related to the perpetuation of food waste flows, it is useful in highlighting the causes, solutions, and spatial patterns of food waste in cities and how and where food is produced and for whom and by whom food waste is generated [17,18]

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion