Can household storage conditions reduce food waste and environmental impact? A broccoli case study

Abstract

The consumption stage has been identified as the largest producer of food waste (FW) across the food supply chain (FSC), with fruit and vegetables being the most affected product category. The present study aims to determine the optimal storage scenario at household level to avoid food waste and which has the lowest environmental footprint. Broccoli was stored under different storage conditions: unbagged or bagged (periodically opened) in bioplastic bags inside a domestic refrigerator at 5 or 7 °C for 34 days and then analysed for relative humidity (RH), sensory properties and bioactive compounds. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to evaluate the environmental profile of 1 kg of broccoli purchased by the consumer (cradle-to-grave). At day 0 (base scenario) the carbon footprint was 0.81 kg CO2 eq/kg, with the vegetable farming being the main contributor to this environmental impact, mostly driven by fertiliser (production and its emissions to air and water) and irrigation (due to electricity consumption for water pumping). Quality and food waste depended on time and storage conditions: For short storage times, within three days, the best quality combined with the lowest environmental footprint was for unbagged broccoli at 7 °C and no household food waste. However, this scenario had the highest food waste level from day 3 onwards, with increased resource loss and overall environmental footprint. For long-term storage, using a bag and storing at 5 °C helped to reduce food waste with the lowest environmental footprint. For example, at 16 days, this scenario (bagged at 5 °C) could save 4.63 kg/FU of broccoli and 3.16 kg CO2 eq/FU compared to the worst scenario (unbagged at 7 °C). Consumers are the key to reducing household food waste and this research provides the knowledge for improvement.