LAUSR

Abstract 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 prevent food waste at the municipal level and their relevance on the local agenda. It first proposes a definition of local food waste prevention policies and presents an overview of options for municipal actors. Based on the analysis of own interview data and secondary sources, it then applies Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework to gain insights on the agenda-setting processes in the two cities concerning the issue. The results suggest that policy entrepreneurs, a strategic framing, and networking with other political levels favour the rise of food waste prevention 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 and a perceived spatial mismatch between problem and solutions. The findings provide starting points for (i) the further investigation of the so far under-researched potentials and limitations of municipal food waste prevention as well as for (ii) local (network) activities which strengthen food waste prevention on the level of municipalities.