Page 49 - DUT Excellence

MAGUBANE’S BOOK EXPLORES LOVEIN THE ERA OF
socio-economic sustainability in both developed and developing countries. The extent and complexity of the global food waste problem has brought it to the forefront of the environmental agenda. In particular, food wastage is of critical importance for the hospitality sector, whose operations generate excessive food waste, and this sector is one with signi cant potential for food waste prevention,” she said.
With COVID-19, the restaurant industry has been greatly affected, especially in closures and reduced operational hours.“Consequently, many restaurants have had excess perishable food stock that could not be used during this period, resulting in high food wastage and huge nancial losses for the restaurant sector. My research will prompt further investigations into strategies aimed at decreasing food wastage in general, and during disasters,” she stressed.
Sucheran indicated that the recommendations provided in this study could be implemented by restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce food wastage and its associated nancial losses.
“Implementing new and expensive technological solutions to combat food wastage in restaurants (especially small establishments) would not be advantageous as restaurants may be still trying to cover their losses during strict lockdowns. The simpler, cheaper yet effective solutions would be more bene cial and budget friendly. It is natural for restaurants to shift their focus to gaining momentum again instead of focusing their attention on food waste management, however, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, it should be priority to ensure that further nancial losses do not occur,” she said. Sucheran said that in South Africa, approximately 31 million tons of food is created annually, with about a third going to waste. She said that she has always been interested in operations, especially
in the travel and hospitality industry – airport operations, hotel operations and restaurant operations.
“The environmental, social and economic impacts of food waste is a global concern, and as an industrial engineer, it is vital to implement processes that minimise such waste. Also, in a country like South Africa, where hunger and poverty is of major concern, food waste mitigation strategies should be given top priority. Food waste has been identi ed as one of the major issues in environmental and socio-economic sustainability for both developed and developing countries,” she said.
Sucheran said that she often visited restaurants and observed the amount of food wastage from patrons and always wondered how the restaurant actually manages their food waste.
“I have chosen KwaZulu-Natal speci cally because I reside in the province and frequent restaurants here. Moreover, accessing restaurants and obtaining information for the study was easier, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
Explaining the challenges in the topic of research, she said that from her research, the major challenges within South Africa are the laws regarding donating food waste, funding for implementing good strategies and the lack of education on its seriousness.
“Many restaurants are aware of the food waste crisis but simply do not have enough money to invest in certain technology to reduce the waste. This hurdle can be overcome by looking at simpler solutions rst, which cost less with similar effectiveness. Before implementing any expensive technological solutions, the rst step should be to identify the major food waste sources and implement the mitigation strategy accordingly.
47 DUT EXCELLENCE 2021 // SEMESTER 1