System Thinking for Sustainable Development: Household Food Waste in UK

The study is widely focusing on the system thinking approach to reduce the issue with household food waste in UK. It has been observed that Britons are throwing almost 24 meals a month and adding up to 4.2 million tones of drink and food every year, which could have been consumed. The system thinking approach helps in going deeper to the issues to analyze how the issues can be resolved. The effects created on the society, environment, and economic aspects are needed to be followed up by the UK government.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Environmental Management for Sustainable Development
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Title: System Thinking is critical in developing solutions to sustainability challenges: Household
Food Waste in UK.
Introduction
System is the separate parts that are interrelated to each other for working towards
common goals. System thinking approach helps in addressing and resolving these sustainability
challenges (Moscardo 2013). The study is focusing on a wicked problem faced due to the food
waste in UK household. The system thinking concentrates on the individual parts of the problem
and creates the interrelation between those parts. The study would thus concentrates on the
development of the theoretical model suitable to define system thinking in resolving the issues
with household food waste in UK. Furthermore, the study would describe the three pillars of
sustainability to develop the clear understanding regarding the wicked problem chosen for this
study.
Discussion
Household food waste is one of the most challenging issues in the sustainability
parameter in UK. It is evident that UK family is wasting nearly £60 per month by throwing away
the entire meal each day. A report is showing that the most of the challenges arise due to the
ongoing scale of household food waste in UK. It is noticed that Britons are throwing almost 24
meals a month and adding up to 4.2 million tones of drink and food every year, which could have
been consumed (Derbyshire.gov.uk 2018). Even half of these foods go straight from the
refrigerator into the bin. In fact, it is reported that the household in UK waste the one-fifth of the
food of which almost 60% could have been eaten. In Britons, people are still throwing away
almost 86 million chickens every year (Sheffield 2018). Mostly, breads, milk, and potatoes are

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the top three meals that are thrown away by the UK household. The equivalent of 5.8m potatoes,
24m bread slices, and 5.9m glasses of milk are wasted per day (Smithers 2018). In addition to
this, it has been observed that the pastries and cakes also belong to the top 10 items that are
wasted every day in UK. The Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP), the government’s
waste advisory body, has presented the report, which reflects that since 2007, the avoidable
household food waste has been reduced by almost 21% to 4.2m tones that saved almost £13bn
(Wrap.org.uk 2018). WRAP also reported that UK government has failed to reach the
predetermined target of cutting household food waste in 2015. The system thinking approach is
thus undertaken for going deeper into the problem to resolve the issues and maintain
sustainability.
In order to develop the understanding regarding the household food waste, it is essential
to identify the reasons behind the continuous food wastages. Duić, Urbaniec and Huisingh
(2015) defined that the food waste in the household sometimes involves the psychological
factors. For example, people sometimes do not care or unaware about the sustainability
challenges that might occur due to the food waste. Many people even can afford to waste the
extra foods instead of giving it away to the needy people. Dawodu, Akinwolemiwa and
Cheshmehzangi (2017) identified that high quality standards and the inefficient purchase
planning lead to food waste. On the contrary, Haines (2016) argued that some upper class in the
UK family buy too much or cook too much due to which they tend to waste food more. Even
sometimes, the lack of kitchen skills affects the food quality that does not taste good to people.
Therefore, they often waste the food due to their reluctance in consuming the poor quality foods.
Many people are much conscious about the food safety and they become high sensitive in
consuming the healthy foods. They often thus waste the food, which affects the balance in

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maintaining sustainability. There are some of the socio-economic characteristics of the food
waste also found in the generation. It has been observed that age-younger people generate more
food waste. In fact, it is also noticed that people with higher income rate generate the food waste
eve more than the people in middle income rate. The monetary factors create more effects on this
household food waste that affects the sustainability parameter. Mulligan (2014) observed that
larger size household produce the food waste more than the single family household. This waste
is generally measured on a per capital basis. Among the single household, the households with
younger children tend to waste the food much significantly. These specific characteristics of
household food waste create the sustainability issues in UK much recognizably.
According to Benn et al. (2014), every system is the assimilation of the interconnected
parts that affect the entire systems including the other associated part. Going deeper into the
problem would provide the proper solution to the issues. The six stages of the system thinking
provide the six types of systematic approach to understand the complex problem and presenting
the suitable solutions accordingly. The first stage of system thinking is tell the story, which
indicates that the problem can be understood by looking deeper into the whole system instead of
any individual part (Jackson 2010). For example, household food waste in UK is a crucial matter
in UK. However, it is required concentrating on the entire food habits and waste habits for
understanding the source of issues more precisely. The use of the concept maps help in
understanding the issue in a prominent way. The second stage is Drawing Behaviour Over
Time (BOT) graphs. It defines that while thinking about the problem, people are mostly
influenced by the current situation even though the problem follows a particular time dimension
(Ricketts 2012). This graph represents a curve that defines the specific behaviour through the
time indication. For example, if food waste is the problem to sustainability then the time horizon

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of issues would be the other segment of the curve. This time specification would help in
understanding whether the issues with the household food waste can be resolved or not.
The third stage is to create a focusing statement, which provides the clear vision about
the problem solving process and defines the target of the team to resolve the issue (Weber and
Soderstrom 2011). For instance, UK government had set a target to reduce the percentage of the
food waste by 2015. However, the government failed to achieve the target. Hence, the time
period within which the target was set to resolve the issue falls under this third stage of system
thinking. The fourth stage is the identification of the structure, which presents the statement
after having the clear vision about the problem (Weber and Soderstrom 2011). The recognition
of the behavioural pattern associated with the description of the issue defines this stage more
appropriately. In describing the wicked problem of household food waste, the behavioral pattern
of the people is needed to be recognized more clearly. The fifth stage is going deeper into the
issue, which tends to look after the underlying problems (Robertson 2014). It clarifies the four
items, such as purpose of the entire system, the mental models, the larger system, and the
personal role in the specific situation. While discussing the wicked problem, it is necessary to
address these specifications to dig deeper into the matter.
The final stage is to plan an intervention, which requires the collected data regarding
the issues chosen for the study (Pandey and Kumar 2016). In order to develop the intervention
phase, it is essential to collect the sufficient information regarding the household food waste in
UK. The modifications made in the current situation would be helpful enough in connecting to
the related parts associated with the thinking system. The intervention leads to reach the
desirable behaviour for resolving the issue. The maintenance of this system thinking approach
can provide the necessary insights regarding the issues with the household food waste in UK.

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The three pillars of sustainability is a conceptual management tool that provides the
insightful ideas about the three major components of sustainability, such as social, environment,
and economic (Mulligan 2014). The household food waste in UK creates the adverse effects on
these three pillars of sustainability. In discussing the economic factors in household food waste,
it has been observed that it plays the significant role in molding the minds of the people. In the
year of 2009, WRAP developed the econometric model, which examines the interplay between
the macroeconomic factors (Sheffield 2018). Such of these factors are the household awareness
regarding the food waste, the income rate, waste ratio of the household, and the weight of the
food they purchase on a daily basis. In the year of 2011, WRAP published the report that
revealed that 1.1 million tones reduction in the household food waste between the years of 2007
to 2010 (Sustainablefoodtrust.org 2018).
Food waste not only damages the economy, it equally affects the environmental
functions. It is notable that food is produced through production, distribution, stores, and cooking
process. The use of the fuel, energy, and water is necessary and these elements emit the
greenhouse gas that contributes to the climate change. When the food is wasted, it wastes the
water as well. One loaf of bread consumes 100 buckets of water whereas a chicken breast
consumes 54 buckets of water (Derbyshire.gov.uk 2018). Therefore, it is an issue of
environmental sustainability as well. On the other hand, the report also reveals about the social
impacts on food waste. In spite of the target set by the government, it has been observed that the
food waste is a persisting issue in UK household. Many people in society are going hungry
whereas the upper society is considerably wasting more amounts of foods per day. It is notable
that younger generation in the society is more likely wasting food. Many people have become
more health conscious and their sensitiveness towards healthy food makes them wasting food

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more. Hence, it is an societal issue that is needed to be reduced. The household in UK waste the
one-fifth of the food of which almost 60% could have been eaten or provided to the people who
need it. In describing the societal impacts, it is also notable that high quality standards and the
inefficient purchase planning lead to food waste (Weber and Soderstrom 2011). There are some
of the socio-economic characteristics of the food waste also found in the generation. It has been
observed that age-younger people generate more food waste. Until there is an awareness program
arranged alerting people about the reduction of food waste, the ratio would increase per year.
Moreover, it is also necessary for the UK government to undertaken the hands on approach to
reduce such issues more precisely. A joined up policies against such food waste could help the
UK government to reach the target of reducing this food waste ratio.
Conclusion
The study is widely focusing on the system thinking approach to reduce the issue with
household food waste in UK. It has been observed that Britons are throwing almost 24 meals a
month and adding up to 4.2 million tones of drink and food every year, which could have been
consumed. The Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP), the government’s waste advisory
body, has presented the report, which reflects that the considerable amount of food waste is
affecting the economy of UK in a significant manner. The unawareness regarding the food
sustainability, the tendency of young generation to consume larger amount of healthy foods, the
nature of people belong to high income scale of food wasting are the major reasons of such food
waste in UK. The system thinking approach helps in going deeper to the issues to analyze how
the issues can be resolved. The effects created on the society, environment, and economic
aspects are needed to be followed up by the UK government. It is essential to take some hands
on approaches to deal with the problem and reduce the ratio of household food waste.

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