Systems in transition : from waste to resource : a study of supermarket food waste in Cape Town.

• Main Author: Marshak, Maya
• Other Authors: Battersby-Lennard, Jane
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2015
• Subjects: Environmental and Geographical Science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/11973

Includes abstract. === Includes bibliographical references. === This thesis explores the management of supermarket food waste in Cape Town. In doing so it highlights both its underutilisation and its potential transition from waste to resource. Through an extended micro study of a single case study store it traces the management of food waste from the supermarket into the wider systems of waste management in the city. It then explores the barriers and potentials for managing food waste further as a resource. While recycling has increased in the city over the past decade, this thesis demonstrates that at present there does not exist a comprehensive system for the recycling of supermarket food waste, particularly non-edible and animal protein wastes. As a result most of this waste is sent to landfill where it causes environmental damage and endangers human health.