Household food waste disposal in South Africa: A case study of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni

Abstract

Food waste is becoming an important issue in light of population growth and global food security concerns. However, data on food wastage are limited, especially for developing countries. Global estimates suggest that households in developed countries waste more food than those in developing countries, but these estimates are based on assumptions that have not been tested. We therefore set out to present primary data relating to household food waste disposal for South Africa within the sub-Saharan African context. As the Gauteng Province contributes about 45% of the total municipal waste generated in South Africa, the case study area covers two of the large urban metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng, namely Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg, with a combined population of 8.33 million, representing nearly 15% of the South African population. Municipal solid waste characterisation studies using bulk sampling with randomised grab sub-sampling were undertaken over a 6-week period during summer in 2014 (Johannesburg) and 2016 (Ekurhuleni), covering a representative sample of the municipal waste collection routes from households in each of the two surveyed municipalities. The food waste component of the household waste (excluding garden waste) was 3% in Ekurhuleni and 7% in Johannesburg. The results indicate that an average of 0.48 kg (Ekurhuleni) and 0.69 kg (Johannesburg) of food waste (including inedible parts) is disposed of into the municipal bin per household per week in the two municipalities, respectively. This translates into per capita food waste disposal of 8 kg and 12 kg per annum, respectively, in South Africa as compared to the estimated 6–11 kg per annum in sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia.

Food Waste Within South Africa and Saudi Arabia

“…Since these two studies are not a representative sample of metropolitan municipalities in South Africa, it is not possible to use these results for extrapolation purposes. It is however interesting to note that the food waste component of household waste (excluding garden waste) in these two municipalities was 3% in Ekurhuleni and 7% in Johannesburg (Oelofse et al, 2018) in contrast to the predicted 45% of MSW in 2025 (Adhikari et al, 2006).…”

“…Biomass waste from food production Oelofse and Muswema (2018) estimated the waste biomass from food processing for a number of commodities as summarised in Table 5. The assumptions used in the calculations were sourced from international literature and applied to available statistics on production and processing of the different commodities (Oelofse and Muswema, 2018). Environmental footprint of food waste Mekonnen and Hoekstra determined the South African water footprint and agriculture contributed 76% of the total footprint (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011).…”

“…The food waste component in these studies varied between 3% in Ekurhuleni and 33% in Nelson Mandela Metropolitan municipality. 2018published the food waste results of comparable waste characterisation studies from two of the big metropolitan municipalities in the Gauteng province of South Africa (Oelofse et al, 2018). The results provide an indication of the food waste disposed of to the municipal bin rather than the food waste generated at household level.…”

Methodological Approaches to Tackling Food Waste: Moving the Agenda Forward

“…Furthermore, direct measurement at home requires considerable investment and the need to train participants to sort the waste in order to quantify it accurately. To overcome this drawback, a potential solution is to utilize bulk sampling with randomized grab sub-sampling to cover a representative sample of the municipal waste collected, as undertaken by Oelofse, Muswema and Ramukhwatho (2018) who quantified household food waste in South Africa.…”

Encuesta sobre comportamiento familiar frente al desperdicio de alimentos y determinacion del costo nutricional de este, en una muestra de hogares en chile: resultados de un estudio piloto

“…Para países en vías de desarrollo las cifras son menores, aunque se cuenta con pocos estudios que lo demuestren. En Sudáfrica por ejemplo, en pueblos de tamaño mediano de zonas urbanas y rurales, la estimación promedio de desperdicios fue de 0,24kg/per cápita/semana 41 , mientras que también en Sudáfrica se obtuvieron datos de 0,15kg/per cápita/semana en Ekurhuleni y 0,22kg/per cápita/semana en Johannesburg, dos municipalidades en donde se evaluó el desperdicio directo, incluyendo las partes no comestibles, depositado en el contenedor municipal 42 . En zonas…”