MICRO ECONOMICS PAPER

FOOD WASTE IN CAMPUS DINING HALLS: A study of XLRI GMP mess"

Ambuj Kumar Tripathi

G14065 (Section B)
GMP 2014-15

FOOD WASTE IN CAMPUS DINING HALLS: A study of XLRI GMP mess

A unit of money saved is as good as a unit of money earned, goes the old adage. In todays
world where 21% of the population lives on less than $1.25 per day (Source: World Bank), it
can rightly be stated that A morsel of food not wasted is as good as a morsel produced. As
per the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) the world food production
would be required to rise by 70% by 2050 in order to feed an expected population of nearly 9
billion (Population in 2012: 7 billion, World Bank). The FAO further breaks down this
required growth into almost one billion ton of increase in cereal production and 200 million
tonnes increase in meat production. The trends in food production growth vs. world
population growth over since 1960 favour achievability of these targets. However, the growth
over last fifty years has been achieved by exponential increase in yields and expansion of
land under agriculture. As of today, area under cultivation has reached a saturation point and
yield growth is on a serious decline.
Food waste is serious global problem not only due to a threat of shortage in future but also
because it leads to huge amount of wasteful expenditure by producers and consumers alike.
Moreover, food waste dumped into landfills leads to greenhouse gas emission causing global
warming. The problem is a visible one at the global level as well as at the micro level around
each one of us. Consumers like us are daily contributing to this wastage. Look around and
you will find the sheer amount of food left over in plates which goes into the garbage can.
Prevention of this wastage may lead to real savings over a short period of time. It could feed
several mouths which go unfed each day.
Let me take an example of the GMP hostel mess of XLRI. The mess feeds approximately 150
people daily over breakfast, lunch and dinner. On account of my observations over last two
months I can safely assume that nearly 20% of the people skip at least one meal on any given
day. Though the mess is cognizant of this fact, however, the unstated principle of avoiding a
shortage over cooking extra food supersedes these kinds of observations. Waste does not only
occur in the form of extra food cooked by the mess, rather a much higher amount of waste is
generated because of the food which is discarded by students and other visitors to the mess in
their plates.
The food wastage in form of extra amount cooked is highest during breakfast and lowest at
dinner as the number of people skipping breakfast is higher than those skipping dinner.
However, the discarded food in plates reaches its peak at dinner. There is little the mess can
do in terms of regulating its wastage as long as consumers have the option of consuming
unlimited amounts for a given price. The number of people skipping meals during any
particular time of the day is generally not constant and thus the mess cannot risk reducing the
average amount of food cooked. Numerous reasons can be attributed to the food discarded by
consumers. Given the paucity of time due to hectic schedules of the management course,
students generally tend to overfill their plates to avoid repeatedly standing in long queues.
Secondly, due to longer breaks between each meal, hunger is always overestimated while the
point of satiation generally remains the same.

Observations also show a specific trend in the category of food wasted through the day. The
amount of carbohydrates wasted (Bread, Rice & Fried items) increases much more from
breakfast to dinner than other food items. High amount of wastage has also been observed in
vegetable items. Salads and pulses (Dal) are generally wasted less compared to carbohydrate
rich foods.

The graphs here are a general representation of waste quantity in the form of food discarded
through the day and the degree of liking towards the mess food from breakfast to dinner.
Breakfast generally is the time of least food discarded because students generally tend to fill
their plates with less food as they have little time to finish the same. Further due to the larger
break between breakfast and the previous meal, the tendency to finish the food is high due to
higher energy requirements in the morning.
The mess charges an average amount of INR160 for all three meals. If we take a conservative
assumption of 15% food discarded by each student, the amount wasted everyday by 120
students (assuming 20% skip meals everyday) results in wastage of approximately INR2700
per day. Going by the mess charges, the same can feed 17 more persons. Further, if we
assume that the mess cooks food for at least 135 people (10% less than gross demand), it
amounts to waste of INR2250 per day (enough to feed additional 14). For a one year program
like GMP it amounts to waste of approximately INR1.5 million on an annual basis, enough to
feed 9,300 people on any given day or 31 people per day throughout the year.
This mini example of a single mess in XLRI Campus, if extrapolated to other hostels within
XLRI and more than 12000 colleges across India with millions of students, results in billions
of rupee worth of food wasted annually. The same can be said about food wasted by patrons
across restaurants & eating outlets.
Several measures can be undertaken to avoid this wastage at the micro level; however, some
of them may be not feasible given the nature of business and consumer preferences.
Consumers prefer buffets over A la carte meals due to the freedom from deciding the
quantity ordered and variety offered within a single bundle. The amount of money spent by
taking an additional unit of food serving is zero. Therefore, the option to do away with
unlimited food offerings will lead to lower business and ability to serve lesser customers due
to time consumed in serving food on the table.

A measure which can be feasible in a GMP mess like setting is to organize the buffet spread
in serving vessels one each table. With food items on the same table where students are
seated, the propensity to overfill their plates will be reduced. Further, to avoid wastage in
form of extra food cooked by the mess, a system can be designed wherein students deciding
to skip meals can inform the mess in advance. The mess committee of the GMP can design
awareness programs by putting posters within the mess highlighting the problems of wastage
and its impact. Additional measures can be taken by reducing the size of trays.
In pure economic terms higher amount of waste leads to lower consumer and producer
surplus as it increases the cost to produce food by the amount spend on waste disposal. The
price charged by the producer is higher and difference between Willingness to pay and price
paid is narrower. Further lower food waste will result in lower energy spent by the staff
(labour) employed as it reduces the amount of food cooked.
As mentioned in the beginning, A morsel of food not wasted is as good as a morsel
produced. There is a substantial economic impact as well as social impact of reduction in
food wastage. The measures mentioned above have also been discussed with the students
mess committee within GMP and some of them will be implemented in order to reduce food
wastage.