Food and plastic waste generation at a large-scale religious festival and implications for sustainable management

Large-scale religious events generate considerable amounts of solid waste calling for dedicated research to quantify wastage, explore its drivers, understand stakeholder perceptions and design effective management strategies. Responding to this call, this study investigated the generation of food and plastic waste during the 2023 Arba’een pilgrimage in Karbala, Iraq, one of the world’s largest annual religious festivals. A mixed-methods research design was employed combining quantitative waste audits, conducted over 20 days at selected mawkibs (volunteer-run foodservice stations) and municipal waste disposal points, with qualitative semi-structured interviews (n = 60) involving mawkib owners, pilgrims, religious leaders and municipal authorities. Audits revealed substantial waste: 7900 tonnes of food and 4000 tonnes of plastic. Per pilgrim, 0.36 kg of food and 0.18 kg of plastic were generated, accounting for 0.72% and 0.58% of Iraq’s total annual hospitality food waste and all-sectors-total plastic waste, respectively. Interviews explored such thematic areas as waste drivers, behavioural practices and responsibility attribution. Findings highlighted a ‘blame game’ dynamic between mawkibs and pilgrims regarding wastage. Religious leaders cited a moral tension, noting how observed excess in consumption contrasted sharply with Islamic values of modesty and resource conservation, while authorities stressed logistical constraints. This study provides novel empirical data, highlighting the complex interplay between traditional Islamic hospitality and sustainability. It outlines scope for waste reduction interventions, such as portion control at mawkibs and promoting alternative serving materials, such as bio-plastics, for future large-scale religious events.