Introduction
The relevance of environmentally sustainable practices in the food and hospitality industry in Australia is explained by the fact that hotels and restaurants witness food leftovers and wastage daily. Food wastage is an issue that affects countries’ environments and economics adversely. The investigation aims to identify how food and hospitality practices have changed in response to issues of environmental sustainability and how they could continue to change in the future to reduce the industries’ impact on the environment.
Scope of the Study
This investigation will endeavor to answer the following research question by addressing the three focus questions:
- In what ways has the food and hospitality industry in Australia responded to the growing demand for environmentally sustainable practices and how can they continue to improve these practices?
- Focus Question 1: Why are environmentally sustainable practices in the food and hospitality industry important?
- Focus Question 2: What environmentally sustainable practices have been implemented in the food and hospitality industry in Australia? What has been implemented in the Northern Territory?
- Focus Question 3: How can the Australian food and hospitality industry continue to improve their impact on the environment in the future?
Methodology
The research has been conducted to measure the environmental impacts of the food and hospitality industry in Australia. Gathering evidence from the six credible academic sources, this research paper provides the answer to the proposed research question and determines in what ways has the food and hospitality industry in Australia responded to the growing demand for environmentally sustainable practices. Secondary sources will include certain practices that local councils and industries implement to prevent adverse impacts on the environment due to food waste. Limitations of this investigation may include analysis of observational studies that provide data on the amount of food going to waste and what practices food and hospitality industries imply to decrease the further mentioned numbers.
The amount of overconsumption of natural resources in the food and hospitality industry is estimated in both economic and sustainability issues. The amount of food wasted annually in Australia is equal to 7.3 million tons (Goh & Jie, 2019). Moreover, food wastage is a major problem that is reflected in lost income. According to the Australia Department of Environment and Energy (2021), food wastage in Australia costs the government $20 billion annually. Moreover, food wastage begins right at the start of the supply chain, without even getting on the supermarkets’ shelves. During the production stage, 20% to 40% of fruits and vegetables harvested are thrown out as a consequence of not meeting the cosmetic standards of supermarkets and food and beverage outlets (Goh & Jie, 2019). The environmentally sustainable practices in the food and hospitality industry are important because the given issue negatively affects not only the country’s economy but also the climate and sustainability matters.
Degradation of organic wastes, such as composting and landfilling systems influence global warming potential. In addition, food waste disposal contributes to environmental pollution by transmitting greenhouse gases. Approximately 91% of the 1.6 glass transition temperature of food wastes generated annually in Australia ends up in landfills, where it is a significant contributor to environmental pollution (Edwards et al., 2018). The degradation of organic wastes, such as food wastes, garden waste, or paper wastes, may cause carbon emissions as well. Following Edwards et al. (2018), municipal food waste represents 35 – 45% of household residual waste in Australia, with nation 14 generating 1.6 glass transition temperatures annually. The over usage of food may also lead to soil exhaustion, overfishing, environmental exploitation, deforestation, and natural resources overrun.
Along with the food industry, the hospitality industry takes a significant part in food wastage. The main reasons for food wastage in the hospitality industry are over-ordering, overcooking, trimmings, spoilage, over-catering, and wrong portion sizes. By Goh and Jie (2019), the lack of portion controls may lead to situations where “42% of restaurant patrons indicate that the portion served by staff was too large as a reason for their plate waste” (p.131). The above-given data emphasizes the importance of developing environmentally sustainable practices in the food and hospitality industry.
It may be necessary to reduce food production, to decrease the waste of food, which might call into question the beneficial impact of food waste reduction in terms of the financial interests of food industries. However, the consequences of constant food overrun may lead to even greater losses. Researchers claim that “the reduction of food waste will generate tradeoffs inherent to reductions in food production, in which the prospect of improved environmental outcomes could tradeoff against the prospect of loss of regional economics” (Reutter et al., 2017, p. 2). Along with the social-economic consequences of food waste, there are environmental problems induced by food and natural resource overuse.
With great demand for the food industry, rising environmental awareness and conscience are extremely important to reducing overconsumption of food. Economic growth and the global increase in food demand have placed greater demand on the food industry, and consequently, greater impacts on the environment (Sarmiento & el Hanandeh, 2018). Fortunately, today more and more consumers give preferences to “eco-friendly” products and organic food. The research conducted by Sarmiento and el Hanandeh (2018, p. 4) states that “the reduction of red meat consumption, an increase of vegetable intake, cutting off high fructose corn syrup use, and the support of local market are listed as environmentally responsible initiatives at the consumption stage.” Nowadays, food industries are developing strategies that may encourage the customers’ green tendencies growth. Companies are employing green certifications, which are aimed at informing that the product possesses the required ecological conditions. Eco‐labelling is a tool that helps to identify environmentally responsible products or services and is used as a competitive strategy and differentiation tool (Sarmiento & el Hanandeh, 2018). Furthermore, more and more companies are prioritizing natural packaging and recycling materials instead of plastic.
The government takes an active part in reducing food overrun. To promote the use of alternative food waste treatment methods, many governments have begun to impose financial incentives and other policies to help industries compete against landfills (Edwards, Burn et al., 2018). Some restaurants opt for reduction of waste, sustainable procurement of low environmental impacts products, and the inclusion of healthy, local, seasonal and organic food (Sarmiento & El Hanandeh, 2018). Such a policy is targeted at developing a conscious and reasonable food consumption, which might decrease the amount of food waste. Local city councils and governments also participate in food waste management. Melton city council provides waste services to 36,919 households (Edwards, Burn, et al., 2018). Fortunately, local services and councils have managed to establish an organized process of food waste management.
Local councils are provided with home composting units where households put all kinds of food, organic and general wastes. According to Edwards, Burn et al. (2018), more substantial general waste, such as branches and wood, is collected monthly at the curbside wood chipped and compost product is used within the household, whereas woodchips enter the marketplace. Therefore, food waste management involves local government, food industries, households, and even restaurants.
Improving the impact on the environment when considering the food industry is crucial because the numbers of food going to waste remains to be frustrating. Edwards, Burn et al. (2018) claim that it has been estimated that “one-third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted” (p.118). Therefore, the government should continue elaborating waste management systems to decrease such a substantial quantity. To avoid pollution, people should consider sorting food waste into the appropriate places, which is at the disposal of all, either within the household or mechanical sorting. In the case of mechanical sorting, “general waste is collected on a fortnightly basis and sent to a centralized windrow composting facility” (Edwards, Burn et al., 2018, p. 120). Sorting the food waste into the appropriate flow may help to avoid pollution and reduce carbon emissions in the degradation of the organic waste process.
Global companies and food industries actively implement eco-labeling and eco-certificating their products. Generally, there are two broad eco‐labeling classes: a certification done eternally by the organization or brand owner and third‐party certification, which involves an external agent for the environmental evaluation (Sarmiento & El Hanandeh, 2018). By doing so, the food industry might be able to decrease the risk of greenwashing. According to Sarmiento and El Hanandeh (2018, p. 5), “greenwashing is the practice of deceptively marketing a product or a service as being environmentally sound.” Such an approach not only elicits a positive reaction from the customer but also helps to reduce the amount of food waste and favorably influences the environment.
Concerning the hospitality industry and restaurants, hotel frontline employees are developing central reference groups that are directed to reduce the amount of spoiled and wasted food. Goh and Jie (2019, p. 131) reported that “30% of restaurants reuse their preparatory leftovers such as lemon peels to make marmalade.” Food wastage management also includes control reinforcement over portion sizes, wrong orders, following the recipes and the menu, overcooking, and spoilage.
Conclusion
Summarizing the above-mentioned literature review, the food wastage issue in the food and hospitality industry in Australia remains to be consciously considered as it may adversely affect the environment and lead to over-expenditure of natural resources. Therefore, appropriate measures should be taken to prevent food wastage and spoiling. The food and hospitality industries should raise awareness about food waste matters. People and governments should implement conscious food consumption and sort food wastes into the appropriate flow.
References
Australia department of environment and energy. (2021). Josh Frydenberg.
Edwards, J., Burn, S., Crossin, E., & Othman, M. (2018). Life cycle costing of municipal food waste management systems: The effect of environmental externalities and transfer costs using local government case studies. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 138, 118–129.
Edwards, J., Othman, M., Crossin, E., & Burn, S. (2018). Life cycle assessment to compare the environmental impact of seven contemporary food waste management systems. Bioresource Technology, 248, 156–173.
Goh, E., & Jie, F. (2019). To waste or not to waste: Exploring motivational factors of generation z hospitality employees towards food wastage in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 80, 126–135.
Reutter, B., Lant, P., Reynolds, C., & Lane, J. (2017). Food waste consequences: Environmentally extended input-output as a framework for analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 153, 506–514.
Sarmiento, C. V., & El Hanandeh, A. (2018). Customers’ perceptions and expectations of environmentally sustainable restaurant and the development of green index: The case of the Gold Coast, Australia. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 15, 16–24.