Business Case Report: Food Waste Management and IT Innovation

This report delves into the critical issue of food waste management, exploring innovative approaches leveraging information technology. It begins with an introduction to the significance of food waste management in the context of IT innovation, followed by a detailed explanation of research methodologies, including qualitative and quantitative analysis. The report defines food waste management within the framework of green information technology and presents a business case based on Lake Chalet Seafood and Grill's implementation of waste reduction programs, including the use of Natur-Bags. It also discusses the application of green software and blockchain technology in streamlining food supply and waste management. The report further examines future directions, emphasizing the importance of food waste audits, green logistics, and the adoption of eco-friendly practices within the food industry. The report concludes by summarizing the benefits of IT-driven food waste management, including improved sustainability and enhanced brand reputation. The report includes a second part that focuses on the search methodology used, presentation of results and critical analysis of the data, and the use of Tableau software for managing food waste data, including data from Twitter, demonstrating public awareness and the impact of sustainability efforts.

Portfolio

Table of Contents
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Methodology...............................................................................................................................1
Definition of food waste management in information technology innovation ..........................1
Case study ..................................................................................................................................2
Latest Future directions...............................................................................................................3
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................4
PART 2............................................................................................................................................4
Introduction.................................................................................................................................4
Search methodology ...................................................................................................................5
Presentations of results and critical analysis ..............................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

PART 1
INTRODUCTION
The food waste management is an important task in which company manages how to
work upon food waste. In food industries, certain process are made for enhancing profitability
and saving food which is produced. Different companies can enhance brand awareness in market
by performing CSR activities like dissemination of waste food to needy people. In the following
report, innovation on food waste is explained. It contains two business cases related to this food
waste strategy through information technology. Several recommendation for the food industry
which operates food management is discussed in this report (Alina, 2015).
Methodology
The process which is used to collect information and data for making decisions of
business is research methodology. This includes surveys, interviews, publication research,
historical information , etc. There are basically two kinds of research methodology i.e.
qualitative and quantitative analysis. Qualitative analysis is obtained from descriptions based on
languages or images and quantitative analysis takes data in numeric form.
Quantitative method is research method in which quantifiable information is used for
statistical analysis. This is useful for making real life decisions based on derivations. This helps
in estimating particular frequency of characteristics and traits.
This helps researcher to form parameters for observing larger data sets. Qualitative data helps
solving issues and problems of people, focusing on research topic, etc. On the other hand,
Qualitative data is defined as data which characterizes and approximates. This data is recorded
and observed. This is a non numeric form of data and collected through methods of observations,
interviews, surveys, focus groups, etc. This includes statistics of the data. This methodology is
used to collect data on food management (Bhowmik and et. al., 2017). A qualitative research is
conducted and a survey is done and views of people about need of food management are
collected.
Definition of food waste management in information technology innovation
Green information technology or green software is the manufacturing, or reducing use of
products that harm environment. Green software is used to reduce energy consumption and
disposing. A food waste management through information technology is a practice in which
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reduction of food waste is considered. Green software is used for minimising the harm to
environment. In the given project of food waste management, it has been analysed that company
is launching business in which all restaurants and hotels will be connected simultaneously
through green software that works on block chain technology. By applying this, hotels and
restaurants will be notified about supply of food and using AI places will be allotted
automatically. Vehicle which emits less carbon are used for transferring food (Chiumenti, 2015).
Case study
The given case is based upon Lake Chalet Seafood and Grill situated in Lake Merritt in
Oakland. This is a destination for fine dining. This restaurant offers a variety of fresh seafood
dishes and it has a gorgeous lakeside seating. Lake Chalet has focused on reduction of the
amount of waste that is sent to landfills by implementing a recycling and organic waste diversion
program. This restaurant faced challenges during implementing this initiative for setting up an
effective and sanitary system for the collection and sending of food scraps to compost facility.
This company requires a strong and robust compostable bag which contains odors and maintain a
clean environment in kitchen. This restaurant evaluated different compostable bags which can
fulfil their requirements. These bags were tested by an unconventional method called as “The
fish Test”. This unique test was done by filling a bag of fish scrap and swinging this bag around
for measuring it's strength. If there is no mess, bag is used otherwise it is rejected. Natur-Bag
passed this Fish test and it is durable. Hence, Lake Chalet has chosen Natur-Bag to handle food
scraps. By using this Natur-Bag, Lake Chalet has saved money as well as time. They are able to
keep collection bins clean and odor free. Lake Chalet waste is sent to compost facility and not to
landfill.
Another case study discussed in this report includes requirement of food waste management
system. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, demonstrates economic benefits
of resource efficiency and waste reduction (Ferreira and et. al., 2019). This suggests that
resource utilisation must be minimised and waste and other emissions should also be minimised
and these emissions have the potential to yield cost savings, identifying new business fields and
increasing employment and competitiveness. This case shows three main streams like food
surplus and food waste, avoidable and unavoidable food waste, waste prevention and waste
management.
Food surplus, food security an waste
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The distinction between food surplus and food waste is necessary for making a
sustainable approach to address food waste. Food surplus is defined as food produced beyond
nutritional needs and waste is the product of food surplus. Food surplus acts as a safeguard
against unpredictable weather patterns affecting crops.
Waste Prevention and waste management
This involves the distinction between waste prevention and waste management. Waste
prevention includes activities that avoids waste generation, reduction of food surplus. Waste
management includes dealing with food waste such as composting and anaerobic digestion
(Gamme and Aschehoug, 2014).
Food surplus and waste framework
This is the recovery and recycling of products of food and drinks industries. The
framework interprets and applies waste hierarchy in the context of food waste. This provides and
prioritises options for dealing with food surplus, avoidable and unavoidable food waste. The
important options are presented first and these are placed at the top of framework. The
prioritisation is based upon waste hierarchy. The undesirable food surplus led to prevent
overproduction and oversupply of food beyond human nutritional needs at all stages of food
supply chain.
Latest Future directions
In the given report it has been analysed that food waste management is necessary for the
environment as well as organisations. There are two cases given in the report which are related to
waste management. As there are several methods by which food waste management can be done,
these companies can follow one of them. This will increase the brand image and helps in
developing reputation in front of clients and customers. The hotels and restaurants must launch
green software that works on block chain technology. Natur-bags must be used in handling and
managing of food waste of hotels and restaurants (Khan and et. al., 2016). This utilises organic
material and does not harm environment. When there is a need of managing food waste or
kitchen waste in hotel or restaurant, they should use this software to notify to food waste pickup
departments. These uses AI techniques for finding shortest path to reach these hotels. People
should use vehicles which emits less carbon and do not harm environment. This service uses
electric vehicles and such an initiative will contribute to CSR activity. In hotel and restaurant
industry, government owned flights, public vehicles or water containers can be used for
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transferring food. This is an innovation that helps in reduction of malnutrition and famishment
and this contributes to betterment of society. For the food waste and food consumption patterns,
food waste audits should be done for achieving food purchasing efficiencies, cost savings and
staff engagement. Food audits are important for quality management and food safety. The
auditing apps can be used in Hotels for getting details about addressing any gaps on a regular
basis. Audits help hotels and restaurants to foster communication effectively. When interviews of
employees are taken, it provides a multitude of viewpoints and this gives an opportunity for
promoting sense of ownership. Food safety audits are driven by technology (Mohammadpour
and et. al., 2015).
Conclusion
Food waste management is an essential step to be taken by food industry including hotel
and restaurants. Various technologies are used by food industry to contribute to social welfare
and managing food waste, food surplus and food management. Some of the technologies are
using Natur-bags, collecting food waste by electric and non-carbon vehicles. This creates a good
reputation of the hotel or restaurant in front of clients and customers. It also helps in managing
food appropriately and reduce wastage, foul smell and diseases created by leftover food material.
The management of food safety checklists and quality insurance documentation requires
organisations of large amounts of data.
PART 2
Introduction
Green software used in Food waste management is good initiative and it will help to
reduce wastage of surplus food. According to this plan, non carbon emission vehicles are used to
collect food waste from hotels and restaurants and they are disposed properly. It prevents foul
smell in hotel premises, diseases caused from food garbage, etc. This route of vehicles is
searched through Dijkstra Algorithm (Ogunyemi, 2016). The mismanagement of food problems
is a major issue in restaurants and hotels so there are certain initiatives taken to run green
software an deliver and collect food when required.
Attempt Twitter search term Twitter synonym and
related hashtags that are
Search terms and results
derived from TAGs
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found
1 Zero carbon emission None
2. Sustainability #sustainablelogistics
# Environmentallogistics
#sustainability
Results- only 2 tweets, so
tried sustainable logistic
which has around 258
tweets
3. Green Logistics #ZeroEmissions
#greenlogistics
#greenlog
#Green Logistics
Results- 504 tweets
Search methodology
This is method used for collecting data and information about the context of research. In
this case, food waste data and information is taken from website, publication research and
surveys.
Presentations of results and critical analysis
Hotels and restaurants can convey information about food waste directly by contacting
the companies that manages food waste (Padilla and et. al., 2016). Natur- bags are used for
keeping food garbage and it is strong enough as compared to other ploy bags in which garbage is
kept. This management helps in benefiting society and giving a pleasant environment at hotels
and restaurants. Tableau software is used for managing data of the food waste. This helps to
easily manage the data and reach to places at right time to collect food waste. This software
enables people with trusted data and it drives enterprise transformation. This software is essential
for turning collective data and unleash creativity. This helps in making team work fast and smart
by choosing an end to end analytics experience. This helps in preparing analysis and build data
sources and dashboards. This software publishes and share contents and collaboration is done to
analyse data. This application provides security and governance which is required in completing
tasks related to food waste management (Petrescu-Mag and et. al., 2018).
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This is done using Tableau software in which data collected from Twitter is automatically
converted to Google spreadsheets. This can be concluded from this graph that people are
concerned and aware about problems of food waste. This can be seen from the analysis of data of
individuals who tweeted about the issue of food waste (Sirbu , Homorodean and DRAGHICI,
2014). In the first month there were more 6500 tweets and in the second month there was a hike
of 20% from the previous month. Companies and individuals are satisfied after knowing about
the economical sustainability of product given by company. This can be seen by increasing
number of tweets everyday. This influences many industries in adapting green software and
helping the environment.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alina, M., 2015. Swot analysis of rural development in the village Sânmartin.
Bhowmik, A. and et. al., 2017. Potential carbon sequestration and nitrogen cycling in long-term
organic management systems. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 32(6), pp.498-
510.
Chiumenti, A., 2015. Complete nitrification–denitrification of swine manure in a full-scale, non-
conventional composting system. Waste management, 46, pp.577-587.
Ferreira, I. And et. al., 2019. Nanoplastics and marine organisms: what has been
studied?. Environmental toxicology and pharmacology.
Gamme, I. and H. Aschehoug, S., 2014. Assessing lean’s impact on operational
integration. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 6(2/3), pp.112-123.
Khan, M. J. and et. al., 2016. Effect of Amendments on Bioavailability of Heavy Metals to
Alfalfa and Biomass Yield Irrigated with Wastewater. Journal of Environmental
Engineering, 142(8), p.04016038.
Mohammadpour, A. and et. al., 2015. Impact analysis of facility failures on healthcare delivery
process: use case–driven approach. Journal of Performance of Constructed
Facilities, 30(4), p.04015093.
Ogunyemi, A. O., 2016. Historicising the Budgetary Problems of Ghana and Nigeria under
Democratic Governance, 1999-2010: Common Lessons in Fiscal Management. Lagos
Historical Review, 16(1).
Padilla, R. F. Q. and et. al., 2016. Impacts of management programs to biophysical resources of
Cagayan de Oro River, Northern Mindanao, Philippines. Advances in Environmental
Sciences, 8(3), pp.273-282.
Petrescu-Mag, R. M. and et. al., 2018. WASTE: JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS, PRACTICAL
SOLUTIONS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WASTE MANAGEMENT
INFRASTRUCTURE, AND DISPOSAL CONSUMER HABITS. Quality-Access to
Success, 19.
Sirbu, R. M., Homorodean, A. P. and DRAGHICI, A., 2014. THE SUSTAINABILITY OF
ORGANIZATIONS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE
INVESTMENTS. SEA: Practical Application of Science, 2(3).
Yacoub, H., 2015. To What Extent Has Conservation Strategy Succeeded in Protecting the
Natural Heritage in Egypt?. In Essays on Heritage, Tourism and Society in the MENA
Region(pp. 201-224). Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh.
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