Environmental effects of food waste reduction using system dynamics approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present paper aims to study the energy consumption of the food industry and to evaluate the effects of reducing energy consumption on pollution emission in the future. The proposed integrated system dynamics simulation model focuses on the feedback processes and interaction between the population, economic growth, food demand, energy consumption, and air pollution. Diminishing food waste rate and developing energy productivity are considered to create energy management and pollution emission mitigation scenarios. The results revealed that the food demand and energy consumption will grow by 1.35% and 3.31% per year, respectively. Under these circumstances, the amount of pollution emission, with annual growth of 4%, reaches 1.13 million tons in 2031. The results of improving energy productivity and reducing of food waste under population growth also confirmed that these policies can be effective in energy management and pollution. Through a 1% reduction in the food waste scenario, we can save 0.95% on energy demand and control pollution emissions by 0.83%. Also, for every 1% improvement in energy efficiency, we can expect a 5.24% reduction in energy consumption and a 4.82% decline in pollution emissions. Thus, by controlling the energy demand in Iran, an effective step can be taken to improve the quality of the environment.