The Role of Local Governments in Food Waste Prevention – Insights from Selected German Municipalities

Food waste prevention has gained greater relevance on the political agenda over the last decade. However, the involvement of municipal actors in pushing the issue forward has been comparatively limited. Based on the cases of the German cities of Munich and Cologne, this paper examines the possible approaches to preventing food waste at the municipal level and their place on the local agenda. It applies Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework to analyse interview data and secondary sources and to gain insights on the agenda-setting processes in the two cities. The results suggest that policy entrepreneurs, a strategic framing, and networking with other political levels favour the rise of the topic on the local agenda. The main hindering factors identified are problem load and budgetary constraints, as well as the lack of strong political interest groups. The findings provide starting points for the further investigation of the so far under-researched potentials and limitations of municipal food waste prevention.