A Quantitative Sustainability Assessment of Food Waste Management in the European Union.

Davide Tonini,Paola Federica Albizzati,Thomas F. Astrup

doi:10.1021/acs.est.1c03940

Davide Tonini, Paola Federica Albizzati + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c03940

Copy DOI

Abstract

In an endeavor to make Europe carbon-neutral, and to foster a circular economy, improving food waste management has been identified by the European Union (EU) as a key factor. In this study, we consider 21 pathways, covering: (i) prevention; (ii) reuse for both human consumption and animal feed; (iii) material recycling as an input into the food and chemical industries; (iv) nutrient recycling; and (v) energy/fuel recovery. To include all types of impact, a sustainability assessment, encompassing environmental, economic, and social pillars, is performed and complemented with societal life cycle costing. The results indicate that after prevention, reuse for human consumption and animal feed is the most preferred option, and, in most cases, nutrient recycling and energy recovery are favored over material recycling for chemical production. While highlighting that the food waste management hierarchy should be supported with quantitative sustainability analyses, the findings also illustrate that biochemical pathways should be improved to be competitive despite the fact that food waste valorization has the potential to satisfy the EU demand for the chemicals investigated. Yet, the results clearly show that the potential benefits of improving emerging technologies would still not eclipse the benefits related to food waste prevention and its redistribution.

Highlights

In 2019, the European Commission launched the European Green Deal[1] with the overarching goal of making Europe carbon-neutral by 2050
Efforts should be expended on preventing food waste and utilizing it as a resource, as supported by the food waste hierarchy.[3]. Both the food waste hierarchy and the bioeconomy pyramid strive in regarding food waste not as waste to be disposed of but as a resource for high-value product manufacturing
The three sustainability pillars are quantified by means of the sustainability framework proposed in Taelman et al.,[36] which comprises 27 indicators for 25 impact categories at the midpoint level. These impacts at the midpoint level are expressed per functional unit, which in this study is the management of 1 ton of post-processing food waste, characterized by average European composition at the point of collection

Summary

Introduction

In 2019, the European Commission launched the European Green Deal[1] with the overarching goal of making Europe carbon-neutral by 2050. The Farm-to-Fork strategy, aiming at creating sustainable food systems and meeting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,[2] was a core element in the European Green Deal and looked at tackling food waste and losses across the food supply chain to achieve sustainability.[2] Efforts should be expended on preventing food waste and utilizing it as a resource, as supported by the food waste hierarchy.[3] Both the food waste hierarchy and the bioeconomy pyramid strive in regarding food waste not as waste to be disposed of but as a resource for high-value product manufacturing. The consistent prioritization of initiatives, requires a systematic assessment of individual food waste valorization and management pathways across environmental, economic, and societal aspects

Objectives

Methods

Results