Abstract:
Estimated as nearly a third of global food production, food waste (FW) is a global challenge of
pressing concern. Food losses occur throughout the food supply chain as food is grown and
travels from the farmer to the consumer, with the largest losses incurred during transportation
and retailing. Towards the end of the chain, the potential economic benefit of reducing waste per
food unit is increases since money and resources are invested at every stage of the value chain. A
study was conducted to analyse the quantities of FW generation in supermarkets, and existing
waste reduction (WR) and resource recovery and reuse (RRR) options, opportunities and
challenges. The supermarket-chains selected for the study were Cargills, Keells, Arpico and
Laugfs. The commercial capital of the country, Colombo Metropolitan area was selected as the
study area. Due to life style and high income by the residents, this area has the highest
supermarket density in the country. One executive officer from the respective chain
headquarters, and five outlet managers were interviewed from each supermarket-chain (n=20).
The analysis focused on vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, groceries, bakery items and packed
perishables. Selected outlets (n=5 per chain) were anonymously visited to observe existing
practices, and to verify received information. All four supermarket-chains employ various
WR/RRR strategies to reduce food waste such as using damage minimizing mechanisms during
the transportation and on the shelves by the means of using crates and maintaining chilled
environment, avoiding overstock by studying previous sales records, offering discounts for
selected food categories to minimize wastage and other strategies linked to quality control (like
expiration rate). The composition of the average monthly waste output from a supermarket outlet
was dominated by organic wastes from vegetables (46%) and fruits (40%). Fish wastes (6%) and
meat wastes (6%) were also noticeable in contribution. The average economic loss for
supermarkets due to FW was estimated as nearly 216,000 LKR/month/outlet across the four
chains (SD: 114002). Outlets that were practicing comparatively robust WR/RRR strategies such
as discounting prices, preparing value added products by means of juices, salads or boiled
vegetable packs from the fruits and vegetables were able to minimize associated economic
losses. Supermarkets should be encouraged to experiment and support more WR/RRR options
such as reuse leftovers as animal feed, energy recovery etc. and motivate customers to buy and
consume optically imperfect foods, promoting related regulatory frameworks and seeking other
incentives.
