**6. Conclusions**

This paper uses Hanoi as a case study to clarify the current situation and trends in food consumption and food waste generation in households, examines ways in which consumers generate food waste, reviews relevant food waste policies and strategies already in place, and provides prescriptions for preventing and reducing food waste. This study found that (1) the level of food waste generation is high in Hanoi even when compared with developed countries, but is not being managed appropriately; (2) while the national governmen<sup>t</sup> has put a number of laws, legislation, and strategies into e ffect and outlined ambitious targets for waste management, there is a lack of implementation at the local level; (3) both urban areas and rural areas in Hanoi are a major source of food waste; (4) there is a strong indication that people eat at home more often than dining outside or consuming ready-made meals, which might be a reason for the high generation of food waste by households and the high percentage of cooking waste in the total amount of food waste generated in households; (5) people rarely waste food when eating at home, while food waste tends to be generated more when dining out; (6) the main reasons for wasting food at home are that food has passed its "use-by date" and is seen to be of "deteriorating quality," while the top reasons for wasting food when eating out are that people over-order and that serving sizes are too large; (7) less than 20% of food waste is separated out for reuse and recycling, with the remainder is disposed and transported to landfills; (8) in urban areas, the majority of respondents o ffer leftover food to other people, while in rural areas, food waste is used as animal feed and for other purposes; and (9) most respondents are willing to reduce, reuse, and recycle food waste so interventions at the consumer level may hold promise in encouraging consumers to practice ways to reduce food waste.

Based on an analysis of the results of this survey, policy implications have been proposed for national and local policymakers and practitioners to consider as potential avenues to explore to reduce waste, including the (1) development of comprehensive food waste policies to address the issue of food waste along the entire food supply chain; (2) development of a practical food waste managemen<sup>t</sup> system based on household separation and collection as well as "recycling loop" schemes to support the utilisation of recycled food waste products, especially in rural areas; (3) development of a shared platform for collaboration and intervention; (4) reduction in portions and encouraging consumers to use surplus food at home; (5) creation of uniform standards and a consensus on labels indicating food expiration dates; and (6) promotion of su fficiency strategies for saving food, reducing food waste, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

The issue of food waste is considered to be vital for all countries to achieve targets decided through international consensus, including the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda (SDGs). The Vietnamese governmen<sup>t</sup> is facing mounting pressure to establish a suitable waste managemen<sup>t</sup> system. At the same time, Vietnam is an agriculture-based economy with a potentially high level of demand for bio-fertiliser, such as compost and fermented liquid manure by anaerobic digestion. Two decrees (Decree 109/ND-CP on Organic Agriculture issued in 2018 and Decree 84/ND-CP on Regulations on Fertiliser Management issued the following year) encourage the practice of organic agriculture and set out what constitutes an organic fertiliser. Collaboration between peripheral villages and towns could help drive a transition from conventional waste managemen<sup>t</sup> to innovative resource managemen<sup>t</sup> and to a sustainable food production-consumption system, although tremendous challenges remain.

It is clear that the data presented in this study is relatively uncertain due to the limited number of samples as well as limitations in self-reporting measures. However, this is the first attempt to link food waste to waste producers in urban and rural areas in Hanoi and to gain an understanding of the situation of food waste generation and the diversity of factors that can influence food waste behaviours at the household level in order to improve waste managemen<sup>t</sup> systems and policies to reduce food waste. Future research should aim to validate these self-reporting measures with more objective techniques for data collection, and link food waste generation in households to both the food and waste systems to draw a picture of the overall image of food waste generation. Furthermore, the complexity of the food waste issue requires collaboration among different disciplines to bring the grainy picture of the reasons why consumers generate food waste into clearer focus. Finally, to achieve SDG target 12.3 of halving food waste at the consumer level by 2030, ensuring harmonised data collection on food waste remains an issue in Asia, and practical policies, strategies, and actions on source reduction is an area that can be considered for future study.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following is available online at http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/16/6565/s1, Questionnaire: Survey on Personal Lifestyles in Viet Nam.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, C.L.; Data curation, T.T.N. and C.L.; Formal analysis, C.L. and T.T.N.; Methodology, C.L.; Validation, T.T.N.; Visualization, C.L.; Writing—original draft, C.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-16) of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan "Policy Design and Evaluation to Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns in the Asian Region" (2016–2020), and the IGES SRF Fund 2020.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank Phuong Anh Duong Thi and Thu Ha Nguyen Thi for their technical assistance with the questionnaire survey, and would also like to express gratitude to the referees for their useful comments.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
