Recycling Practices and Value Chain Performance in the Food and Beverage Industry in Kenya.

Abstract

Value chains have been increasingly facing various challenges such as poor performance, less competitiveness, inefficient value chain management, scarce resources, waste accumulation, high material cost, disposal and lack of sustainability. Recycling practices have been identified as one of the techniques that can be used to optimize these value chains. The main objective of this study was to establish the role of recycling practices on value chain performance in the food and beverage industry in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design and the target population was 291 companies in the food and beverage industry. The sample population involved 74 companies in the food and beverage industry. Self-administered structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that value chain performance was influenced positively and significantly by recycling practices and most of the food and beverage firms in the industry that are implementing recycling practices are doing so as a way of reducing the operational costs and optimizing value chain performance. This research was based on recycling practices and value chain performance in the food and beverage industry in Kenya and there is a need to undertake similar studies in retail or commercial sectors and in other countries to uncover the underlying relationships between recycling practices and value chain performance and the findings may identify interesting comparisons. This study adds to existing research on the subject of recycling practices and value chain performance as it reveals that recycling practices are necessary to promote optimization of the performance of the value chains. Based on the current Literature, studies focusing on the implementation of the recycling practices are limited. There is no study that is linking recycling practices and value chain performance of the food and beverage industry. Therefore, this is a pioneering study in both content and context.