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Food wastes (FW) has become a crucial global issues. Food production should be increased substantially to meet the need of growing population, high tendency of spoilage and consumer preference are some of the main reasons for food waste. FW predominantly happen in public places such as hotels, hospitals and industrial parks. FW in Sri Lanka, several institutes can be highlighted including schools. 10194 government schools and 80 registered private school chains are functioning throughout the country. In which, total population including both students and teachers are over 4.5 million. Thus, handling large quantity of food in schools, leads to generate huge quantities of FW and it directly affect to the national economy. Therefore, this qualitative research was designed and implemented to determine reasons for FW and evaluate the efficiency of existing FW handling strategies in schools. The data were collected from 12 schools in each educational zone at Kegalle and Kurunegala, through a survey from teachers and students. Majority of students were provided homemade breakfast in both zones, further 20.92% of students in Kegalle and 37.21% of students in Kurunegala have wasted food with some percentage of breakfast daily. In addition, plate waste of free breakfast provided by school was identified as 20.31% of students and 24.62% of students in Kegalle and Kurunegala areas respectively. Free lunch was provided schools only in Kegalle educational zone and among those who was fed from school meal; 37.5% of students have wasted food in various percentages. Majority of students have brought lunch from home and 26.51% of students in Kegalle and 26.12% of students in Kurunegala thrown some amount of lunch daily. FW was comparatively high, when meals provided from school. Further, study revealed that most of school have not established an effective FW handling system within the premises. Therefore, a systematic programs should be implemented to control food wastes. In addition, awareness programs should be carried out to educate students to minimize FW. It is necessary to investigate the reasons for wasting large quantities from school meal. Finally, a national campaign on “Stop Food Waste” should be launched for school community to create a sustainable environmental development with appropriate mechanisms of school and family education.
Kandegama et al. (2020) studied this question.