Preliminary Insights on Household Food Wastage in Lebanon

Laurence CHARBEL^1, , Roberto CAPONE², Leyla GRIZI³, Philipp DEBS², Dunia KHALIFE⁴, Hamid EL BILALI² and Francesco BOTTALICO^{2, 5}

¹Department of Geography, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Lebanese University, Fanar, Lebanon

²Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Department, International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies of Bari (CIHEAM-Bari), via Ceglie 9, 70010, Valenzano (Bari), Italy

³Khatib & Alami Consolidated Engineering Company, Jnah, Beirut, Lebanon

⁴General Chaplaincy of Prisons, Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon

⁵Parthenope University of Naples, Department of Science and Technology, Naples, Italy

Cite this paper

Laurence CHARBEL, Roberto CAPONE, Leyla GRIZI, Philipp DEBS, Dunia KHALIFE, Hamid EL BILALI and Francesco BOTTALICO. Preliminary Insights on Household Food Wastage in Lebanon. Journal of Food Security. 2016; 4(6):131-137. doi: 10.12691/JFS-4-6-2

Abstract

Food losses and waste, generated across the whole food chain, implies serious environmental, social and economic costs. Lebanon suffers from lack of information about food waste. There is no national legislation related to food waste (FW). The paper provides insights on household FW in Lebanon with a focus on perceived importance of FW, attitude towards FW, quantity and value of food wasted. An online survey was conducted in the period January-March 2015 with 215 adult consumers. Sample is not gender-balanced, rather young and with high education level. Household’s planning and shopping activities are important predictors of FW. Fruits, vegetables, and milk and dairy products are the most wasted food products. Most of the respondents have a good understanding of “use by” label while just the quarter know exactly the meaning of “best before” label. About 42% of respondents declare that their households throw away at least 250 g of still consumable food each week. The economic value of FW generated each month is more than 6 United States dollar (US$) for 80% of respondents’ households. Lebanese households show a positive attitude regarding FW and are willing to change behaviour to reduce it. An integrated policy mix is needed to foster transition towards zero-waste consumption patterns.

Keywords

household food waste, consumer behavior, online survey, Lebanon

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]	FAO, Global Food Losses and Food Waste–Extent, Causes and Prevention. International Congress at Interpack Düsseldorf, Germany. 2011. http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e.pdf.
[2]	FAO, Reducing Food Losses and Waste in the Near East & North Africa Region, 32nd session FAO Regional Conference for the Near East. 2014. http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/030/mj427E.pdf.
[3]	FAO, Report of the Expert Consultation Meeting on Food Losses and Waste Reduction in the Near East Region: Towards a Regional Comprehensive Strategy, FAO Regional Office for Near East and North Africa, Cairo. 2013. http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/cfs-hlpe/sites/cfs-hlpe/files/files/Food_losses_waste/Report%20on%20Expert%20Consultation%20Reeting%20on%20 Food%20Losses%20and%20Waste%20in%20the%20NE%20Region%20December%202012%20-% 20English%20.pdf.
[4]	Ministry of Environment, United Nations Development Program and ECODIT (MoE/UNDP/ECODIT), The State and Trends of the Lebanese Environment. 2011. http://www.undp.org.lb/communication/publications/downloads/SOER_en.pdf.
[5]	Ministry of Environment, Climate Change Enabling Activity Report. Lebanon's First National Communication Report. 2002-2011. http://test.moe.gov.lb/ClimateChange/p1_waste_management.html.
[6]	Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), Solid Waste. 2012. http://www.cdr.gov.lb/eng/progress_reports/pr102012/index.asp.
[7]	Marashlian, N. and El-Fadel, M., “The Effect of Food Waste Disposers on Municipal Waste and Wastewater,” Waste Manag. Res., 23(1). 20-31. 2005.
[8]	FERN, About Food Establishments Recycling Nutrients (FERN). 2015. <http://ferninternational.org/about>
[9]	Food Blessed, About food Blessed. 2015. http://foodblessed.org/AboutUs.html.
[10]	Oneissi, F., Food Waste in Lebanon: some interesting initiatives to tackle it. Watch letter, Food Losses and Waste in the Mediterranean [online], Watch Letter n°30. pp. 61-63. 2014. ISSN 2114-3129. http://ciheam.org/images/CIHEAM/PDFs/Publications/LV/wl30%20official.pdf.
[11]	CIHEAM, 10th meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of CIHEAM’s Member Countries: Final declaration. 2014. http://www.ciheam.org/index.php/en/cooperation/ministerial-meetings.
[12]	NSW-EPA, Food Waste Avoidance Benchmark Study, State of New South Wales (NSW) Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Australia, September 2012. http://www.frankston.vic.gov.au/files/34d7963e-24ab-455b-a1f5-a22300d89be2/Love_food_ hate_waste.pdf.
[13]	Last Minute Market, Last Minute Market - Trasformare lo spreco in risorse. 2014. http://www.lastminutemarket.it/media_news/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/RESOCONTO-WASTE-WATCHERS-2013_def.pdf.
[14]	HLPE, Food losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. 2014. http://www.un.org/en/zerohunger/pdfs/HLPE_FLW_Report-8_EN.pdf.
[15]	NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), The dating game: how confusing food date labels lead to food waste in America. 2013. NRDC Report R:13-09-A http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/dating-game-report.pdf.
[16]	Bio Intelligence Service, Preparatory study on food waste Across EU27. Technical Report 054. 2010.
[17]	WRAP, Consumer insight: date labels and storage guidance, UK. 2011. <http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/consumer-insight-date-labels-and-storage-guidance>.
[18]	HISPACOOP (Confederacíon Española de Cooperativas de Consumidores y Usarios), Estudio sobre el desperdicio de alimentos en loshogares. 2012. http://www.hispacoop.es/home/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=279.
[19]	Lipinski, B., Hanson, C., Lomax, J., Kitinoja, L., Waite, R., and Searchinger, T., Reducing Food Loss and Waste. Working Paper, Installment 2 of Creating a Sustainable Food Future. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC. 2013. <http://www.worldresourcesreport.org.>.
[20]	FAO, SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Losses and Waste Reduction: Key findings. 2013. http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/.
[21]	The Regional Solid Waste Exchange of Information and Expertise Network in Mashreq and Maghreb Countries (SWEENET), Country Report on the Solid Waste Management in Lebanon. 2010. http://www.databank.com.lb/docs/CountryreportLebanon-En-mai2011.pdf.
[22]	Aljamal, A. and Bagnied, M., “Food Consumption and Waste in Kuwait: the Prospects for Demand-Side Approach to food Security,” International Review of Business Research Papers, 8(6), pp. 15-26. 2012.
[23]	FAO’s Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition, Survey on Current Research and/or Activities on Food Losses and/or Waste Worldwide. 2012. http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/sites/default/files/file/Survey_food_loss&waste/SUMMARY_Survey% 20FSN%20Forum-07-26-12-11-50.pdf.