**1. Introduction**

A third of all food produced worldwide for human consumption is lost along the food managemen<sup>t</sup> chain [1]. This lost food is a source of enormous waste in the form of valuable resources, and also contributes to the degradation of the environment [2], as well as adding to the increasing volume of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [3] and skyrocketing social and economic costs [4]. Moreover, the generation of food waste is also a moral issue when considering that there are 795 million undernourished people around the world [5]. In light of this, over the course of implementing the Paris Agreement and the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), policymakers, practitioners, and academics have increasingly acknowledged the urgency of addressing the issue of food waste. The SDGs adopted by the United Nations Member States set a target to "by 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses" [6]. To achieve this target, policies must encourage widespread adoption of certain practices along the food supply chain [7].

Food loss and waste occur at all stages of the food supply chain in di fferent countries for a variety of reasons and can vary by culture [3]. There is no universally-agreed upon definition for food loss and waste [8,9], which has resulted in the publication of inconsistent data on food loss and waste in existing literature. To ensure that the results from this study are comparable to data in other studies, this paper defines "food waste" as "any food, and inedible parts of food, removed from the food supply chain to be recovered or disposed," as proposed by FUSIONS [9]. The term "food loss" in this paper is used to describe a reduction in edible food at the beginning of the supply chain, while "food waste" refers to losses that occur at the end of the supply value chain, or consumption stage, as proposed by FAO in 2011 [8].

Research on food loss and waste began in the late 1980s, and since 2005, data on this issue has become more widely available [10]. However, there is little data to be found in the food waste research landscape in Asia [11], and there is even less literature on food waste in the consumption phase (see 2.1 below). It is generally recognised that on the global level, the consumption phase in developed countries is the largest single contributor to the rising generation of food waste, whereas larger food losses occur during the production and post-harvest phases in developing countries [4]. However, it has been argued that the boundary of consumption habits between developing and developed countries is more blurred in urban settings, meaning that food waste during the consumption phase in developing countries may be as extensive as in developed countries. For example, the volume of food waste generated in Bangkok is even higher than the average in many developed cities and countries [12]. Factors such as the rapidly growing urban middle class [13] and increased income [14], greater spending power [15], dietary transitions towards westernised consumption patterns [16], modern retail di ffusion [17], and time scarcity [18] impact the generation of food waste in rapidly urbanising localities. Where developed countries have created adequate policies and systems to manage waste, developing countries have not ye<sup>t</sup> reached this stage; even when waste managemen<sup>t</sup> and 3R policies are in place, developing countries may falter over implementation. Research analysing food waste in the consumption phase in developing countries has remained static at the preliminary stage and little is known about the determinants of consumer food waste and the underlying factors that encourage, drive, or impede food waste prevention behaviours. It is especially urgen<sup>t</sup> to promote food waste studies to link waste to its producers and examine food waste reduction policy implications in the cities of developing countries where the amount of food waste is dramatically increasing, but where both existing data and the capacity to tackle this issue are limited.

Today, Vietnam is one of the most dynamic emerging economies in the East Asia region, with substantial population growth (jumping from 61.1 million in 1986 to 94.7 million in 2018 and forecast to rise to 120 million by 2050), accelerated economic growth (GDP per capita more than doubled by 2.7 times between 2002 and 2018, reaching 7% GDP growth since 2018), rapid urbanisation (rising from 29% in 2008 to 38.4% in 2018), a swiftly emerging urban middle class (rising from 7.7% in 2014 to 13.3% in 2016) and fast-growing development of consumer goods and services, as well as tourism (total tourism revenue increased more than three times from 200 trillion VND (Vietnamese Dong) in 2013 to 637 trillion VND in 2018) in recent years [19–22]. These developments will lead to the consumption of more food and other goods, causing food waste generation rates to skyrocket. With farmland making up 34.7% of the total land area and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector accounting for 37.7% of total employment in the country, Vietnam faces challenges with food loss and food waste along the entire food supply chain in both production and consumption.

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is one of the most vibrant cities in the Asia and Pacific region with relatively high economic growth that is expected to continue rising rapidly in the coming years. The city is facing a number of challenges in solid waste managemen<sup>t</sup> as it sees an increase in the generation of solid waste in terms of quantity, type, and toxicity. The city produces 8629 tonnes of domestic solid waste per day (3,149,723 tonnes/year), and the average amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated daily per capita is 1.1 kg [23]. This waste is discharged from municipal sources, including households, restaurants, markets, and businesses. The rate of waste generated in Hanoi averagely increases by 5% each year due to the growing population and rising economy [23]. The quantity and quality of MSW generated in Hanoi have changed dramatically due to the large concentrated population and the e ffects of lifestyle changes as a result of economic development [24,25]. It is estimated that by 2030, this figure will have reached 1.72 kg/person/day [23]. If considering food waste as the organic fraction of MSW, food waste accounted for 53.81% of MSW in 2012 (excluding paper residue), and with a growing population, it is estimated that the volume of domestic solid waste in Hanoi, including food waste, will continue to increase. Meanwhile, more than 80% of MSW is landfilled, which contributes to rising greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). The city faces a series of challenges related to economic growth, environmental protection, and sustainability in agriculture and food systems, including food security, food safety, and food waste, as well as waste managemen<sup>t</sup> and improving the quality of life.

In this paper, we selected the city of Hanoi as a case study to examine the current situation of food waste generated by consumers through daily habits and practices, and evaluated options for preventing and reducing food waste at the policy level. For this purpose, we

