Assessment of food waste and its causes in Universiti Teknologi Mara Perak branch, Seri Iskandar Campus, Malaysia

Abstract

Food waste like other forms of solid waste, imposes economic, social and environmental impact on nations. This study assessed the quantity of food waste generated in Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perak Branch, Seri Iskandar Campus, Perak, Malaysia. This topic is one of important issue of food waste has recently received much attention and has been given high visibility. The impacts of food waste include greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and climate change, ecological affects, sanitation issues, water footprint and nutrient loss. The study adopted a four-stage methodological approach: Site selection, quantitative analysis, online survey and synthesis of results. Food waste generated across the three selected canteens for four weeks was measured directly. In addition, 225 copies of questionnaire were administered to students online and was analysed with SPSS by descriptive statistical analysis to determine mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. Findings from the study revealed that the mean quantity of food waste generated at the sampled canteens, ranged between 24.89Kg ±3.904 and 62.840 Kg ± 4.091, while per capita food waste ranged between 20g to 70g per person/day. About 40% of respondents sampled in the study stated that they waste sauces and spread served them during meals, while 19.5% waste vegetables, 14.2% rice and 12.9% chicken or fish. The study identified limited lunch time, food taste, too much oil and large quantity of food served as some of the reasons for food waste. Thus, the major findings in this study identified the following as ways of reducing food waste in the dining halls: better estimation of portion size of meal on both students and stallholders since the dining halls operate on one-plate self-served buffet and staff service in some instances. The study recommends improvement in communication between local university students to know the type of meals the latter would want canteen operators to prepare. The future research should examine more public universities in the country. This capable to understand different solutions for the effects of the food waste problem on the environment and on the climate change.