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Examples of implementation: Within Bristol's 'Good Food Action Plan' (2015) (UK), plans were outlined to support the introduction of wormeries to primary schools (Barbour et al., 2022, S6).
Examples of implementation: Within the Paris 'Strategy for Sustainable Food' (2018) (France), there are forty actions across four themes including efforts to prevent food wastage and waste by providing 900 domestic composting sites in public facilities and public housing as well as collecting food waste from households (Barbour et al., 2022, S6).
What we know: Public education programmes and campaigns are suggested to be useful for bridging the gap between changing attitudes toward environmentally conscious behaviour and action (Ma et al., 2016). In their review, Ma et al., (2016) reported on a case study from Shanghai (China) that highlighted lack of separation awareness, inadequate public education, insufficient source separation facilities and mixed transport and disposal as key barriers to MSW separation participation. Proposals for raising participation included improving recycling convenience, creating 'recycling goals', using neighbourhood and community leaders to drive participation and better education programmes (Ma et al., 2016).
What we know: Public education programmes and campaigns are suggested to be useful for bridging the gap between changing attitudes toward environmentally conscious behaviour and action (Ma et al., 2016). Social marketing campaigns could be a way to target individuals who classify themselves as non-recyclers but who care about the environment, though some local evidence from Italy suggests that a universal campaign could be more effective (see Del Cimmuto et al., 2014 in Ma et al., 2016).
Further description: The informal sector is defined as individuals or enterprise involved in recycling or waste management that is not sponsored, financed, recognised or supported by the formal solid waste sectors (see Scheinberg et al., 2010 in Ma et al., 2016), and can include stakeholders like waste pickers, waste buyers, small-scale recycling industry, large-scale recycling industry, community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations and micro-enterprises (Ma et al., 2016). Informal sector involvement in municipal solid waste (MSW) management is more common in low-and-middle-income contexts (Ma et al., 2016).
What we know: Informal collectors or recyclers appear to have greater health risks related to chemical and biological hazards, musculoskeletal damage and poor emotional wellbeing, but it is unclear if these outcomes are directly linked to their work or also impacted by wider socioeconomic factors (Ma et al., 2016). Cooperatives and partnerships between informal participants and the formal public and private sectors has been proposed as a way to reduce potential health risks such as preventable chemical and biological injuries by improving policing enforcement, regulation and participant knowledge (Ma et al., 2016).
Types of identified approaches: Bans and/or restrictions on certain MSW practices; control standards; mandatory participation in certain MSW practices; time schedules to services; product specifications to services.
What we know: In general, use of regulation and economic incentives are effective for promoting MSW management, but the effectiveness of individual policy practices is contextually dependent reflecting design choices and challenges to implementation (Ma et al., 2016). Recommendations for local government include evaluation of proposed planning strategies within the local environmental, social and political context and developing ongoing monitoring and assessment measures to ensure effective implementation (Ma et al., 2016).
Types of identified practices: Reduce cost of waste collection by improving waste separation processes and increase composting potential; encourage diners to take-away leftover food by providing compostable containers; engage in energy recovery from biogas.
Examples of implementation: Both the Gent Local Food Policy 'Ghent en Garde' (2016) (Belgium) and Bristol 'Good Food Action Plan' (2015) (UK) present activities for guiding food service business to reduce their food waste and costs of waste collection. Ghent city council has coordinated a programme to provide compostable boxes in restaurants to encourage take-away leftovers (Barbour et al., 2022, S6). In Bristol, two reported actions were: i) the provision of guides to encourage sustainable food catering and menu planning to help reduce food waste and ii) the Sustainable Restaurant Association's 'FoodSave' project, which involves running food waste audits with small and medium-sized businesses (Barbour et al., 2022, S6).
Examples of implementation: The Toronto Long-Term Waste Management Strategy (2016) (Canada) involves efforts to reduce food waste through decreasing the overall amount of waste food and increasing the amount of food waste captured for diversion. One of the activities in the strategy was compulsory participation in weekly household organics collection with 'raccoon resistant' green bins provided by the city council (see Gorrie 2017 in Barbour et al., 2022). As part of San Francisco's 'Zero Waste' policy (2018) (USA) that seeks to reduce MSW generation by 15% by 2030 and reduce disposal to landfill and incineration by 50% by 2030, compliance audits by public authorities have sought to enforce city ordinances that mandate residents to separate recyclables, compostable and landfill-bound trash (Barbour et al., 2022, S6). No efficacy data on this specific requirement was reported but the city's efforts, in general, has seen positive results with a 2017 report estimating that 80% of waste is being diverted from landfills and 300 tons of food scraps are being collected daily (see IPES, 2017 in Barbour et al., 2022).
Examples of implementation: As part of San Francisco's 'Zero Waste' policy (2018) (USA) that seeks to reduce MSW generation by 15% by 2030 and reduce disposal to landfill and incineration by 50% by 2030, there is a 'producer responsibility' ordinance, which in line with the California-wide responsibility framework, has several requirements:
- Food producers and suppliers are responsible for their waste generation
- Provision of producer responsibility language in city purchasing contracts
- Bans on Styrofoam/polystyrene in food ware, requiring use of compostable or recyclable food ware
- Bans on single-use food service ware
- Requiring reusable beverage cups at events on city property
- Bans single-use straws from self-serve areas; though enables single-use plastic straws on request for people with disabilities and medical needs
- Requires compostable plastic or recyclable paper to be used at all retail establishments.
Effectiveness: No efficacy data on this specific requirement was reported but the city's efforts, in general, has seen positive results with a 2017 report estimating that 80% of waste is being diverted from landfills, 300 tons of food scraps are being collected daily and 100 million fewer plastic bags are used annually (see IPES, 2017 in Barbour et al., 2022).
Examples of implementation: The Toronto Long-Term Waste Management Strategy (2016) (Canada) involves efforts to reduce food waste through decreasing the overall amount of waste food and increasing the amount of food waste captured for diversion. One of the activities in the strategy was integrating food waste management into food handling certification to support the minimisation food waste in households, schools, City divisions, agencies, corporations and commercial businesses (see Gorrie 2017, in Barbour et al., 2022, S6).
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