University of Queensland researchers are investigating how to combat the significant environmental challenge of food waste in the food service industry.
A team led by social scientist Dr David Fechner from UQ's Business School has partnered with Australia's largest food service provider to better understand patterns of food waste in large-scale commercial kitchens.
"Globally, food loss and waste accounts for 8-10 per cent of annual greenhouse gas emissions - almost 5 times more than emissions from the aviation sector," Dr Fechner said.
"This is a huge environmental burden.
"Reducing food waste is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a rare win-win - as well as cutting emissions, it cuts costs for the food-service industry and ultimately consumers.
"We're keen to examine how food waste emerges in real kitchens and identify scalable actions that can deliver measurable results for the planet."
Research partner Compass Group Australia has committed to halving its food waste by 2030.
Head of Sustainability at Compass Group Australia Simon Jackson said the company had already adopted systems to tackle food waste, with considerable success.
"Since 2022, we have had digital tracking technology at more than 200 of our sites across the country, so kitchen staff can document any food being thrown out as well as the reason for disposal," Mr Jackson said.
"By making waste visible and measurable, our teams have been able to identify inefficiencies and take action - reducing food waste last financial year by 42.7 per cent compared to our baseline period."
Dr Fechner said the UQ research team would build on this progress by analysing the 4 years of data.
"Initial findings indicate that goal setting plays a key role - as well as the food service provider actively engaging with the data collected," he said.
"The key learning from early analysis is that measurement of food waste is not enough - it must also be actively tracked to learn which operational modifications are most effective in reducing waste."
Dr Fechner said the project would ask critical questions.
"We know food can be wasted at different points in service - when it's delivered for not meeting quality standards, during preparation, overproduction and uneaten food left on plates," he said.
"We want to find out which of these contribute most to overall waste, and if patterns are different between vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy products.
"Is it the small, everyday losses like overproduction and uneaten items that contribute most to overall food waste, or fewer but larger losses related to planning and demand uncertainty?"
The research will also compare the drivers of food waste across different operational settings, such as all-you-can-eat buffets at mining camps, business canteens and quick-service restaurants in stadia.
"This will help us deliver scalable, context-specific initiatives to reduce food waste," Dr Fechner said.
"Working with an industry partner is a unique opportunity to combine food-tracking data with behavioural science to turn insights into action - and deliver measurable benefits for the planet."
The research forms part of Dr Fechner's ARC ECR Fellowship.
Stop Food Waste Day began as an initiative of Compass Group to raise awareness and is now a global movement in its 10th year.
