Quantitative and qualitative assessment of food waste of the hospitality sector in Greece

In Greece, approximately 1.8 million tonnes of food waste are generated each year, mostly disposed of in landfill. Food waste is of concern for businesses in the hospitality and food service sectors, which in Greece dispose of an estimated 100,000 tonnes of food waste annually, almost 6% of the total food waste generated in Greece. The food waste composition analysis and generation rate were determined through Waste Analysis Campaigns (WACs). It is in the scope of the present work to illustrate the results of food waste compositional analysis on samples from the study area of the targeted hotels of Heraklion and Hersonissos in the Region of Crete. The increased need for food waste diversion from landfill and the existing policy which promotes its separate collection and treatment necessitates the comprehensive characterisation of food waste in order to fill information gaps and uncertainties towards food waste management improvements. The ‘Fresh Fruits’ and ‘Fresh Vegetable and Salads’ represented the greatest proportions (56.5%) in each WAC for the hotels. A certain degree of variability is observed though due to seasonal variation. The recorded low impurities content (~0.6%) demonstrate that the participating hotels practice effectively the source separation of the generated food waste.