Food Waste Management - Perceptions, Decisions, and Actions: The case of Guatemala City Department Restaurants

Abstract: Food waste has implications for the people, the planet, and profits. It presents a global problem which normally requires a local solution. Around 6% of the global food loss occurs in Latin America. However, the region lacks a clear strategy to address the issue, which is also true at the national level for countries such as Guatemala. Furthermore, the perception of different actors in the country towards food waste and its management remains unknown. The aim of this research is to explore on the attitudes towards food waste that might exist in the country by focusing on the restaurant sector with the objective of producing a holistic understanding of the issue. Concentration on the restaurant sector provides additional information of the matter, on a sector that shows limited research on it. To fulfill this objective, a case study was conducted, one that involved the participation of three actors directly related to restaurants as either managers or owners and an actor involved in the Municipality of Guatemala City. The research utilized semi-structured interviews and a review of the literature available on the subject as means of data gathering. The analysis was supported using the Triple Bottom Line Framework, a Positional Analysis ideology, the Sustainable Development Goals and the EU Waste Framework Directive. The results showed varied perceptions from the actors on the categorization of food waste, although impacts on an economic, environmental, and social dimension derived from food waste were acknowledged by all of them; being the latter the most prominent. For the actors, the generation of food waste was significant at the customer level, but was also influenced by the type of service provided by the restaurants. Additionally, the approaches selected by them to either directly or indirectly manage food waste covered a vast range of actions. Finally, the actors understood as key for addressing the food waste issue, the raising of awareness on the subject.