What is it about?
Sustainable food waste management is a win for all - people, businesses, and the environment. But progress in emerging nations lags way behind. Our study shows which barriers slow progress and which practices require priority. We do this using a novel linguistic distribution assessment simultaneous evaluation of criteria and alternatives (LDA-SECA) multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) model to optimize the practices and barriers.
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Why is it important?
All emerging nations face serious resource constraints. So, knowing the nature of any problem is critical to resource allocation decisions. We believe that with knowledge of the barriers that impede the more sustainable practices, businesses and governments are empowered to enhance their resource allocation decisions, knowing the potential impact of such decisions.
Perspectives
Hospitality and food service businesses are increasing in size and numbers across emerging nations as travelers take aim at these nations. For one, it is affordable to travel to emerging nations, and the culture is markedly different from those of the developed world. We chose Ghana as a case study as it emerges as a key destination in this trend, especially with her call to the African diaspora to return home. With increasing numbers comes the challenge of increasing food waste. Without a comprehensive understanding of the barriers that hinder the more sustainable practices, we risk harm - worsening food insecurity, high operational costs, and environmental degradation. We hope insights from this study lead to much-needed policy frameworks and intervention programs. Working on this project with scholars with expertise in other disciplines, from operations research to computer science, was a learning experience for me.
Collins Opoku Antwi
Zhejiang Normal University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Enhancing the sustainability of food waste management practices in emerging economies’ hospitality industry through SECA multi-criteria group decision-making, International Journal of Hospitality Management, September 2025, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2025.104233.
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