The hospitality sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is forecasted to grow at more than 10% annually over the next four years. The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) aims to reduce the amount of hotel waste going to landfills by 20% as a first step in its environmental program. In 2012, 2,063 tons of solid waste was disposed of in landfills by hotels and hotel apartments in Abu Dhabi. This waste includes food waste, which is the most significant component of hospitality waste. The issue of food waste in the hospitality industry (hotels and restaurants) is a global problem, and is an area on which little research is done, relative to other types of waste. What is more, food waste is an important material to divert from landfills since it decomposes to create methane, a potent greenhouse gas. In this work, data was collected from chefs/EHS (Environment, Health and Safety) personnel at UAE hotels through interviews which helped identify the roots and dimensions of this issue and underline the regulatory, cultural and economic perspectives involved. In addition, materials flow analysis (MFA) of the food waste in an Abu Dhabi hotel was utilized as a tool to quantify the amounts of the different categories of food waste produced, thereby defining the scale of the current food waste problem in the UAE's hospitality industry. This has been a ground-breaking study since previously no such data was available in this region. The values obtained have proven that the amount of food waste generated is greater than that of other countries; and that in order to improve the situation, the strategies by which restaurant managers determine how much to cook need to be addressed along with the public's habits.