Food Waste Generation by Different Loss Categories During Casual Dining Restaurants’ Daily Operation
A total of 2186.53 kg of food waste was produced from 15 casual dining restaurants in three different districts in Peninsular Malaysia, with an average of 145.77 kg of food waste generated from each restaurant in a week (Table 2). From this analysis, we observed that preparation loss contributed the most to the food waste generation (1123.2 kg), followed by serving loss (676.83 kg) and plate loss (386.5 kg). The daily weighing up value for each loss category from all three districts revealed that the highest total food waste generated from preparation loss was during the weekend, whereby Sunday generated the largest quantity, 178.3 kg (Table 3). Similarly, for the serving loss category, Sunday was the biggest contributor compared to the other days, with a total amount of 109.15 kg of waste generated, followed by Saturday (104.7 kg) and Tuesday (107.6 kg) (Table 4). In contrast, the day that had the largest amount of plate loss was Wednesday, with 63.5 kg of waste produced, followed by Friday (59.3 kg) and Saturday (57.2 kg) (Table 5).
Table 2
Food waste generation by different loss categories.
Region of the Restaurants | Food loss categories | Total weight (kg week− 1) |
Preparation Loss | Serving Loss | Plate Loss |
Ampang | 598.3 | 64.3 | 110.2 | 772.8 |
Kota Bharu | 136.3 | 492.43 | 118.8 | 747.53 |
Jasin | 388.6 | 120.1 | 157.5 | 666.2 |
Total | 1123.2 | 676.83 | 386.5 | 2186.53 |
Table 3
Prep loss from casual dining restaurants in three different districts in Malaysia.
Prepa-ration Loss | kg day− 1 | Total weight (kg week− 1) |
Day 1 (Sun) | Day 2 (Mon) | Day 3 (Tue) | Day 4 (Wed) | Day 5 (Thu) | Day 6 (Fri) | Day 7 (Sat) |
Ampang | 90.6 | 81.9 | 87.5 | 79.3 | 76.5 | 93.6 | 88.9 | 598.3 |
Kota Bharu | 20.8 | 21.2 | 22.7 | 16.9 | 12.7 | 21.7 | 20.3 | 136.3 |
Jasin | 66.9 | 50 | 52.8 | 46 | 53.1 | 57.4 | 62.4 | 388.6 |
Total | 178.3 | 153.1 | 163 | 142.2 | 142.3 | 172.7 | 171.6 | 1123.2 |
Table 4
Serving loss from casual dining restaurants in three different districts in Malaysia.
Serving Loss | kg day− 1 | Total weight (kg week− 1) |
Day 1 (Sun) | Day 2 (Mon) | Day 3 (Tue) | Day 4 (Wed) | Day 5 (Thu) | Day 6 (Fri) | Day 7 (Sat) |
Ampang | 4.7 | 5.8 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 13 | 11.9 | 12 | 64.3 |
Kota Bharu | 82.25 | 69.85 | 82.5 | 59.53 | 63 | 64.7 | 70.6 | 492.43 |
Jasin | 22.2 | 14.1 | 16.4 | 14.3 | 17.2 | 13.8 | 22.1 | 120.1 |
Total | 109.15 | 89.75 | 107.6 | 82.03 | 93.2 | 90.4 | 104.7 | 676.83 |
Table 5
Plate loss from casual dining restaurants in three different districts in Malaysia.
Plate Loss | kg day− 1 | Total weight (kg week− 1) |
Day 1 (Sun) | Day 2 (Mon) | Day 3 (Tue) | Day 4 (Wed) | Day 5 (Thu) | Day 6 (Fri) | Day 7 (Sat) |
Ampang | 13.4 | 14.2 | 14.5 | 18.6 | 12.6 | 18.2 | 19 | 110.2 |
Kota Bharu | 13.9 | 13.15 | 15 | 17.1 | 15.65 | 25.6 | 18.4 | 118.8 |
Jasin | 21.6 | 20 | 29.8 | 27.8 | 19.4 | 19.1 | 19.8 | 157.5 |
Total | 48.9 | 47.35 | 59.3 | 63.5 | 47.65 | 62.9 | 57.2 | 386.5 |
The weekend for Ampang and Jasin consists of Saturday and Sunday, while for Kota Bharu, the weekend is on Friday and Saturday. Considering this time frame, we can see that the waste production in all three locations of the restaurants rose proportionally to the demand for foodservice which depends on the number of walk-in customers and online orders. People usually enjoy dining out on weekends to unwind and enjoy themselves after a long week of work. However, some prefer cook at home due to safety measures for COVID-19 transmission (Nair, 2020), as stated by (Liu et al., 2020), in which COVID-19 virus has mainly triggered the concerns of many due to its morbidity rate and speed of spread. Perhaps, this could be one of the reasons why more food waste was generated during the weekend, whereby the customers that came in or ordered online did not meet restaurant owners' estimates for the number of customers.
Material Flow Analysis (MFA) on the Production of Food Waste in Casual Dining Restaurants
Food waste flow and loss type with higher waste generation were identified using the Material Flow Analysis (MFA) (Fig. 3). From this analysis, preparation loss (51.37%) was the biggest type of food waste generated in all three districts (Ampang, Kota Bharu and Jasin) during the pandemic, while serving loss (30.95%) came second and plate loss (17.68%) last. Generally, food loss is generated during the process that occurs in casual dining restaurants, such as the pre-serving stage, including storage, peeling, cutting, expiration, cooking and trimming process before entering the serving and consuming stages, including on plate or leftover. The reason behind the lower percentage of plate loss from this analysis was due to the fewer customers that dined in, as most were still anxious to dine out. Meanwhile, the factor contributing to serving loss was that owners expected more customers to come. On the other hand, expired or stale raw materials were one factor of preparation loss, which can be avoided if owners prepare a detailed kitchen inventory list.
This evaluation was conducted to help restaurant owners to take the initiatives to reduce food loss by determining which category was the biggest contributor to food waste generation. From our observation, the preparation loss was a bigger food waste contributor than the plate loss, indicating that the generation of food loss in the pre-consuming stage was much bigger. Our result is consistent with a previous study conducted within the United Kingdom hospitality and foodservice sector (Parfitt et al., 2013). Although some would say that preparation loss is inevitable, restaurant owners can stock up on lesser raw materials to avoid food spoilage, to reduce the amount of waste generated from this category. Plate loss contributed the least to food waste production. From another perspective, some food chain restaurants, especially those that serve buffets, charge a penalty fee to customers for their leftovers. Perhaps, the same can be implemented in casual dining restaurants to reduce waste from this category. As for the serving loss category, the restaurants should prepare less food, especially during the weekends when owners expect more customers to come. The restaurant’s kitchen can also consider preparing the food by batch if there are more customers to come.
Carbon Emission from Casual Dining Restaurants’ Electricity Consumption
The average electricity consumption in casual dining restaurants at Kota Bharu consumed an extensive amount of electricity compared to the other two locations, Ampang and Jasin (Fig. 4). As seen in the graph, Saturday demonstrated a considerable amount of electricity consumption for all three locations in this study, with a total of 88 kWh. On the other hand, Wednesday or Day 4 had the lowest electricity consumption with a total of 70.4 kWh. Meanwhile, the district with the highest total average daily electricity consumption in a week was Kota Bharu (269.8 kWh), followed by Ampang (127 kWh) and Jasin (142.2 kWh) (Table 6).
The carbon emission calculated from the average daily electricity consumption demonstrated that Kota Bharu is the district with the highest carbon footprint produced throughout the week compared to the other two locations in this study (3.8–4.98 kgCO2e; Fig. 5). Other than that, Kota Bharu and Ampang showed the highest amount of carbon released on Saturday (4.98 kgCO2e and 2.18 kgCO2e, respectively), compared with other days due to the larger electricity consumption in all casual dining restaurants involved. Interestingly, in Jasin, the carbon footprint released was the highest on Monday (2.49 kgCO2e) and the lowest on Saturday (1.97 kgCO2e). The total carbon footprint produced in a week was the highest in Kota Bharu (29.47 kgCO2e), followed by Jasin (15.54 kgCO2e), and Ampang (13.87 kgCO2e) (Table 6).
Table 6
The total average daily electricity consumption and carbon footprint produced from casual dining restaurants in three selected districts in Peninsular Malaysia in a week.
District | Total average daily electricity consumption (kWh) | Total carbon footprint produced (kgCO2e) |
Ampang | 127 | 13.87 |
Kota Bharu | 269.8 | 29.47 |
Jasin | 142.2 | 15.54 |
From this information, it can be concluded that the food industry, in our case, the casual dining restaurants consumes an extensive amount of energy, which starts from the initial preparation procedure until the final consumption by the customers. Moreover, it has been shown that the energy consumption of the foodservice facilities tripled the amount of that in other types of commercial buildings (PG&E, 2010). The use of kitchen appliances such as refrigerators, rice cookers and water heaters may contribute to the total amount of power consumed at the establishment. This is supported by (Mudie et al., 2013), in which refrigerators constitute a significant portion of the large amount of energy consumed for food storage. From our observation, most of the selected restaurants in this study used at least one refrigerator and chiller to accommodate and sustain their raw material temperatures, such as vegetables, meat, chicken, fish and other raw materials. This was also to prevent food spoilage as all the raw materials used are mostly perishable and easy for microorganisms to grow at the ‘danger zone’ if the temperature range is not being maintained (Byrd-Bredbenner et al., 2013). Another possible component of higher electricity consumption is non-efficient electrical appliances (De Grosbois & Fennell, 2015).
Global warming has been a hot topic for quite a while, in which the most significant contributors that we know of are industrialization, deforestation, oil drilling, and transport and vehicles (Berry, 2021). Meanwhile, we neglect that the basic needs of our life, such as food (which involves farming and fishing) and clothes (which represents consumerism), share the same amount of responsibility in this phenomenon. Importantly, it has been shown that the food chain under the food industry sector is also a greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitter in which every stage of its life cycle, from agriculture and its inputs to manufacturing, distribution, refrigeration, preparation, serving and also to the customer plate, contributes a certain percentage to the GHG emissions (Garnett, 2011). Thus, this study aimed to compute the carbon footprint caused by electricity usage due to carbon dioxide and other gases including methane, are the main GHGs contributing to global warming.
Carbon Emission from Casual Dining Restaurants’ Water Consumption
The daily average water consumption (m3) and carbon footprint emission based on water consumption from casual dining restaurants in three different states in Malaysia were depicted in Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. Water consumption in three locations of casual dining restaurants peaked on Thursday with an average of 15.23 m3, whereby Kota Bharu contributed the most water consumption compared to the other two locations (Fig. 6). Our data also demonstrated that Kota Bharu monopolised total water consumption in a week, contributing about 60% of total water consumption in casual dining restaurants from three different states (Table 7).
On the other hand, the data for the amount of carbon footprint produced from the average daily water consumption revealed that Kota Bharu was the top generator of carbon footprint in comparison to Jasin and Ampang in one week (Fig. 7; Table 7). Besides, it was shown that Saturday generated a considerable amount of carbon footprint, with a total of 5.09 kgCO2e (Fig. 7). Meanwhile, the days that produced the least carbon footprint were Wednesday and Tuesday, which were 4.36 kgCO2e and 4.65 kgCO2e, respectively.
Table 7
The total average daily water consumption and carbon footprint produced from casual dining restaurants in three selected districts in Peninsular Malaysia in a week.
District | Total average daily water consumption (m3) | Total carbon footprint produced (kgCO2e) |
Ampang | 23.02 | 7.92 |
Kota Bharu | 58.71 | 20.21 |
Jasin | 17.11 | 5.88 |
While casual dining restaurants from Jasin (a suburban area) had a moderate amount of water usage during their operating hours, similar to those restaurants in Ampang (an urban area), casual dining restaurants in Kota Bharu showed the opposite where their water consumption in a week doubled the amount of those in the urban area. We also noticed that when the quantity of food loss increased, the volume of water usage also increased, consequently producing a higher amount of carbon footprint from the restaurants. This finding was supported by (Kummu et al., 2012), whereby food loss and food waste in the foodservice industry participate in 24% of freshwater consumption globally. Additionally, some tasks in the restaurants use a lot of water, for instance, cleaning the raw materials, preparing drinks, dishwashing, hand washing for the customers, lavatory usage, sanitation purposes as well as ventilation purposes such as air humidifiers and diffusers. This is supported by a previous data analysed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, showing that 52% of the end uses of water in restaurants was attributable to kitchen and dishwashing (EPA, 2012). Other than that, water is not only required for food production but also increasingly utilized in waste valorisation (Subramanian et al., 2021). Besides, the number of customers per day also plays a role in contributing to the total amount of water consumption, giving rise to the amount of carbon released.