Abstract

Approximately one third of all food that is produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which equates to roughly 1.3 billion tonnes each year. This figure in itself is bad enough, but put in the context of rising food demand from an increasing global population (and an increasingly developed population) this figure is scary. There are numerous sources of wastage, from households and consumers, to the producers and wholesalers. But somewhat lost in the mix is food wastage from the hotel industry. According to Waste & Resources Action Plan (WRAP) the UK hospitality and food service sector produces approximately 920,000 tonnes of food waste annually, of which 75% is avoidable and could have been eaten. The Scottish hotel industry produces approximately 79,000 tonnes of food waste annually, which is equivalent to 1 out of every 6 meals served being thrown out. This project seeks to address this issue, both to help reduce the effects food waste has upon the environment, but also to help the hotel industry adapt to become more sustainable. This project involves the monitoring of food waste produced from the kitchens of three hotels located across Scotland. The food waste was segregated into different categories; 1) Plate waste, 2) Spoilage, 3) Preparation and 4) Prepared not served. During the project, meetings were held with the general managers to suggest prevention/reduction measures in an attempt to reduce the quantity of food waste produced. The hotels managed to save a combined £5,440 and reduce their emissions by 5,520kg over the course of the project. These imply annual savings of £21,759, and 22.7t C0₂e. This report aims to act as a guide for hotels wanting to reduce their food wastage, as responses to the questionnaires that took place before and after the project with the general managers and head chefs highlighted potential barriers to food waste reduction, and identify key tips.

Abstract

Ecologically and economically, the Fungi kingdom is of an immense value and is necessary for sustainable life on the planet. There are six kingdom classifications of life - with Fungi classified as a kingdom of their own. Taxa of Kingdom Fungi are diverse, and as the second largest group of organisms-after insects, are distributed among numerous groups of living organisms. Technological advances in molecular research have enabled mycologists to discover and identify fungal taxa. It is estimated that as many as 1.5 million fungal species exist. Fungi are ubiquitous for ecosystems; undertaking many roles both independently and in association with other organisms. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the last decade has recognized that fungal conservation is important for plant and animal conservation, and has asked governments worldwide to pay much more attention to conserve fungi. The biodiversity and conservation of fungi and public perceptions in NA - especially in Egypt, remains very low, and a lot of education is urgently needed. This work has to be considered as an important contribution to the nature conservation program in Egypt. One important theme is the sustainable use of fungal resources, enforcement of legislations and conventions concerning the fungal diversity in different habitats in Egypt. Environmental education is an urgency in the activity concerning fungal conservation and application of appropriate protected area-management systems. There is a need to separate fungi from plant kingdom in educational courses in Egypt and to integrate mycodiversity and conservation into the science and environmental curricula and extra-curricular activities. Egyptian mycologists have a responsibility to communicate and discuss these issues to the public and politicians. This is a very challenging task, as even the scientific communities often overlook the importance of fungi and their fundamental role in conservation, recycling and protection of ecosystems. Capturing the attention of Egyptian politicians is even more difficult as Egyptian legislation is strongly focused on protecting habitats of animals and plants; ignoring fungi. Governments, communities and individuals all have stewardship responsibilities for protecting biodiversity including fungi. While the state of legislative fungal protection in Egypt remains largely unchanged, there is at least slow progress in the areas of recognition and knowledge of fungi. In Egypt, fungi are ignored due to their treatment as a part of flora. The number of the Egyptian fungi recorded is 2420 taxa - exceeding the Egyptian plants', after an exhaustive revision of all the available literature and sources mentioned since 1813. Some threats for Egyptian fungi can already clearly be identified: Loss of habitat due to overgrazing, medicinal plant collection malpractices, climate change, human population growth, pollution of water resources including the Nile river, bioprospecting and the fragility of desert ecosystems. In most cases in Egypt, however, the scarcity of information about fungal populations makes conservation status evaluations beyond “data deficient”, difficult or impossible. The Egyptian strategy right now should consider the paramount importance of fungal species for biodiversity. On participation in the preparation of the the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation in Egypt, I recommended five major interventions. In 2016, Abdel-Azeem declared the Egypt’s National Fungus Day with the unlimited support from the CBD, IUCN and mycologists and he founded the Egypt’s Mycologists Network (EMN) as a structured network of Egyptian mycologists and with a steering committee to guide and promote best practices, and to solve such problems through collaboration between mycologists, amateur fungal groups, fungal conservation societies, regional natural parks and environmental agencies.