Why not make it compulsory for the culinary industry to address food waste?
To tackle massive food waste and reduce hunger, the Bangladesh government needs to make it compulsory for affluent commercial service providers in the culinary industry to auto-enrol in a centrally managed app to fight against food waste
According to a report by The Guardian, food wastage will reach 2.1 billion tonnes globally by 2030, meaning we are wasting 66 tonnes of food per second. A more recent report reveals that the annual food waste in the United Kingdom is 9.52 million tonnes. In Bangladesh, a December 2022 report reveals that our annual food waste is 14.5 million tonnes.
Contrasting this enormous wastage, the other side of the coin is also tragic. Action Against Hunger claims that "around the world, we produce more than enough food to feed the global population – but more than 810 million still go to bed hungry every night."
A March 2023 survey conducted by the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM) disclosed that the "number of people going hungry in Bangladesh has doubled in six months." This study asked the respondents "whether they had to go an entire day without food due to financial pressure or for any other reason." In a survey they conducted six months prior to this, 9.75% had responded yes. And in the latest survey in March, that number nearly doubled to 18.19%.
There may not be the scope for a dramatic recovery from this adverse situation. But in Bangladesh and around the world, we could address this challenge together to a considerable extent, even within the foreseeable future. However, it depends on our willingness to pursue our collective social welfare together.
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To address this sustainable development challenge in Bangladesh, we can learn from a successful initiative of the British Government in the last decade to assist British employees in increasing their savings for pension.
The British national savings in pension schemes decreased steadily from 2008, until 2011. Before 2012, contributing to the personal pension scheme from each individual's monthly salary in the UK was optional. In 2012, the British Government applied a simple nudge to make it compulsory that if someone wants to work in the UK, she or he must contribute a percentage of monthly salary to her/his pension scheme.
Following this simple nudge to make the employees' contribution to the self-pension scheme compulsory for collective societal welfare, the savings in the UK's national pension scheme began steadily increasing from 2012.
In the same vein, why do we not nudge the Bangladeshi culinary industry for nobler socio-ecological welfare? It is never too late to turn these country-wide food wastages into something more positive.
Similar to the British national pension scheme, the Bangladesh government needs to make it compulsory for all (or at least the affluent) commercial service providers in the culinary industry, i.e., restaurants, hotels and other commercial kitchens, to auto-enrol in a centrally managed app to fight against food waste.
For example, commercial kitchens will upload their leftovers onto the app closer to the end of the day. The leftover foods which would otherwise be thrown away, are still good to consume in the next three-six hours. The subscribers of the app will be auto-notified about the available leftover food that they can purchase at a reduced price within a certain time frame each day.
Consequently, there are other advantages:
- The hungry people in our society can have a treat to fulfil their nutrition every day.
- The government and the community groups will be content as we will have less food waste and more people in the country will have better meals.
- Commercial kitchens across the country will be able to minimise their operational loss and increase their profit margin as they will have less food waste each day.
- The commercial kitchens will be able to create a socially caring brand image.
- Farmers can secure a more competitive price for their produce.
- Eventually, we will be able to reduce our environmental wastage.
To design, apply and monitor this initiative, country-wide local settings of the culinary industry and local needs should be analysed in order to find the best possible adaptive application of the app.
For example, road-side restaurants that cannot afford to run the app can be excluded from such nudge schemes, but studies could be undertaken to recognise the more affluent commercial kitchens, i.e., the fast-food chains and other affluent restaurants in Bangladesh, who could be included in such nudge schemes for collective benefit.
There are examples of misappropriation of the nudge theory. But in this case, the theory can be applied for nobler socio-ecological welfare to fight against enormous food waste and malnutrition to make a happier society, just as it has been applied before for other noble causes.
We understand that it would be more complex to apply such nudges in emerging economies like Bangladesh, in comparison to the developed economies. However, the Guardian also reported that the application of such nudges has been observed in the Indian culinary industry in a similar context and has been a success.
The success in India includes attracting more customers for restaurants, as this nudge helps them create a socially caring brand image, minimise the restaurant's operational loss, and of course, feed more people.
Since India and Bangladesh have similar socio-economic conditions, the application of this nudge in Bangladesh would depend on our collective effort, relying on realising how we can adapt it within the Bangladeshi socio-economic context to reduce food waste and feed more people in our society.
Dr. Riad Shams is an Assistant Professor and PhD Programme Leader at the Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.
