Study of Food Wastage in the Hotel Industry of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Abstract Sri Lanka generates excessive amounts of food waste rounding off to 5.8% of the total weight ending up in landfill. Further, local authorities found that municipal waste wraps up 56% of solid waste within the country. This research study is done to understand how food wastage occurs, is managed, and the techniques used to reduce the wastage within the hotel sector. It is notwithstanding that there is a limited amount of research pinpointing the wastage origin, the mitigation techniques used to address the issue, and possible techniques which can help to reduce food wastage within the hotel industry in Sri Lanka, indicating a prominent research gap that will be addressed within the research study. The qualitative approach for the research study applied thematic analysis to analyze in-depth interviews taken from 12 participants covering the country from eateries that allow full menu options where customers can eat while being seated in the restaurant. According to the findings, it was evident that the majority of wastage is seen from the consumer’s side known as ‘plate waste’ and the most effective way of mitigating the wastage is using portion size control on food servings. Moreover, researchers have found that there is significant importance in educating local customers on ethical food consumption behaviors given the irresponsible eating behaviors. The research study will allow hoteliers, policymakers, and supply chain authorities to explore effective food wastage mitigation techniques to redesign food's operational and supply chain to find possible solutions to manage the food wastage generated within the sector.