Determination of food wastes in restaurants: The case of İstanbul province

When food produced for human consumption become waste, leads to many losses in these processes such as energy, labor, money and depletion of natural resources. Obviously, sustainable production and consumption will not be adopted unless measures are taken. This research was carried out to determine the reasons of the food wastes in the restaurants, in which departments the food wastes more and gained weight and the existence of the practices of the enterprises to reduce or prevent their wastes and to develop recommendations for the deficiencies seen. The sample group of the research consists of 29 restaurants in Istanbul. The interview method, which is one of the most widely used methods in qualitative research, was used as the research method. The obtained data were analyzed with descriptive analysis method and then the results were obtained by numerical analysis of the data. According to the findings, 23 (79,3%) of the participants stated that the highest amount of waste occurred in restaurants in the service department and 11 (37,9%) of the participants stated in the preparation department. 20 (68,9%) of the participants stated that the most common waste group is vegetables. Wastes are mostly due to customer expectations (31,1%) and carelessness of staff (21%). It was observed that the waste follow-up in the interviewed enterprises was not sufficient. Customer follow-up of the follow-up, manager pressure, cost of the enterprise, etc. It was determined that the reasons of the waste follow up, were customer liking, manager pressure and the cost of the enterprise. When the practices regarding waste management in the enterprises are examined, it is seen that the management of oil wastes is provided in a controlled and stable manner. 27 enterprises did not conduct a study for food waste (except oil waste). Key words: Food Waste, Waste Management, Assessment of Waste, Recycling, Restaurant