Reducing Environmental Risk by Applying a Polyvalent Model of Waste Management in the Restaurant Industry

Setting the sustainable development targets for restaurants and Italian HoReCa sector

Due to its strategic position and direct relationship with multiple stakeholders, the HoReCa sector can be a crucial node for the promotion of sustainability in the agri-food chain. However, the sector is currently responsible for a high environmental, social, and economic load. A recent response to these impacts is the diffusion of initiatives that assess and promote sustainable practices at the catering business level. The study aims to verify, using a scientific methodology, how current sustainability programs enable the HoReCa sector to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the level of implementation of sustainable practices in the Italian context. To this end, seven currently available national and international sustainability programs were selected, analyzed, and compared. A matrix approach was adopted to understand the balance of the programs with respect to the three pillars of sustainability. A more in-depth analysis was conducted on the Italian Ristorazione Sostenibile 360 (RS 360) case study, which was analyzed both in terms of compliance with the SDGs and in terms of the sustainability performance of the 29 restaurants that participated in the pilot phase of the project. Although the programs differ from each other, they comply with the 2030 Agenda goals, with a particular focus on achieving Goal 12. Furthermore, the analysis highlighted how a balance between the social, environmental, and economic spheres is essential to ensure the sustainable growth of the sector and to bring benefits to the community. As for the case study, 76 % of the analyzed restaurants achieve at least 70 % of the maximum level of fulfillment of the SDGs achievable by the HoReCa sector. This is a symptom of the sector's potential to contribute to supply chain sustainability. However, continuous improvement is essential to ensure the resilience of the HoReCa sector in the future.

Analyzing Performance in Wholesale Trade Romanian SMEs: Framing Circular Economy Business Scenarios

The study analyzes the performance levels achieved by Romanian wholesaler SMEs from Hunedoara County and to advance some practical courses of action designed to support local entrepreneurs in improving efficiency and in embracing circular economy (CE) practices. We employed cluster and discriminant analyses with a focus on providing an accurate classification of trade SMEs, according to their performance. Three distinct classifications of SMEs resulted in: (i) a class of enterprises displaying high levels of the rates of return, whose business owners exhibited an increased risk appetite and applied investment policies focusing on future development by means of incorporating digital instruments; (ii) a class of SMEs displaying average levels of rates of return, which manage to survive in situations of crisis through maintaining the position previously gained on the market; and (iii) a class of SMEs exhibiting a precarious financial position and employing defensive strategies, with managers who are reluctant to take risks in the innovation processes. Furthermore, we present a cloud computing solution which was tailored for one of the companies from our sample that appeared to be the most likely to carry out the transition from the average SME performance class to the higher class. The main advantages that are brought about by the IT solution in terms of environmental sustainability consist of: improvements in energy efficiency, the decrease in carbon footprints, the lowering of operational costs and the diminishing of the amount of e-waste.

Romania’s Perspectives on the Transition to the Circular Economy in an EU Context

The main objective of the paper is to highlight Romania’s perspectives on the transition process towards the circular economy, in respect with the tendencies registered at the level of the European Union. To this end, our methodology involved the selection of four indicators, each one being viewed as representative for one area of interest specified in the circular economy monitoring framework established by the European Commission, namely: Generation of waste excluding major mineral wastes per domestic material consumption; Recycling rate of municipal waste; Circular material use rate; Gross investment in tangible goods—percentage of gross domestic product. On the basis of data series provided by the Eurostat database, our study employed a quantitative approach, by using the econometric analysis of time series. For each selected indicator, time series-specific approximation and prediction models were constructed; against this background, we were able to reveal accurate forecasts of the analysed variables, with respect to different time horizons. Detailed analysis of the data series resulting from the research proved that on the long run, there are favourable premises for improving Romania’s performance in adopting the circular economic model, on the basis of low values for the indicator “Generation of waste excluding major mineral wastes per domestic material consumption”, of an ascending trend for the indicator ”Circular material use rate” and of maintaining the values of the “Gross investment in tangible goods—percentage of gross domestic product” indicator above the EU-27 average.

The Impact of Religiosity and Food Consumption Culture on Food Waste Intention in Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is among the top food-wasting countries worldwide, despite it being considered a religious society. Hence, an important question has emerged “to what extent and by what mechanism can religiosity influence food waste intention?”. This research answers this research question and examines the direct impact of both religiosity and food consumption culture on food waste intention as well as the indirect impact through the constructs of theory of planned behavior. For this purpose, a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was collected from 1135 restaurant customers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) using Analysis of a Moment Structures (AMOS) showed a very weak negative influence of religiosity on food waste intention. However, food consumption culture has had a high positive significant influence on food waste intention. The results also showed that attitude towards behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control fully mediate the relationship between religiosity and food waste intention. On the other side, they were found to partially mediate the relationship between food consumption culture and food waste intention. The results have several implications for policy-makers, scholars, and restaurant practitioners.