Abstract
This paper investigates food waste dynamics in a retail alternative food network (AFN). We provide a first contribution to assess food waste in an AFN in terms of 1) food waste levels, 2) food waste causes, and 3) food waste management practices (i.e. food waste reduction and handling). We use an exploratory case-study to investigate food waste in a Polish AFN. We place the results of this case-study in the context of conventional retail, by reviewing retail food waste literature. Quantitative results show that food waste levels at the AFN are very low compared to conventional retail literature. Qualitative results show that food waste causes at the AFN are partly shared with conventional retail, and partly specific to the AFN. Possible explanations for low food waste are provided by the food waste management strategies, in which food waste prevention is a key component of the AFN practices.Two other possible explanations are the degree of flexibility and the main drivers of the organization. Conventional retail is ruled by top-down policies, focusing on profit-maximization. The AFN we studied is small-scale, independently organized, and non-profit. Its main driver is to balance financial viability, accessibility and ethical guidelines. Looking beyond profit allows for a high concern with food waste, while the autonomy of the organization gives its members flexibility to develop ways to prevent and handle food waste. Future research can build on our approach of combining food waste estimations with qualitative investigation of food waste causes and management practices. Food waste dynamics should be further investigated in other (retail) AFNs, in small-scale conventional and organic food retail, and in small and large-scale cooperative supermarkets.
Highlights
The recently revised EU Directive on Waste (EU, 2018) restates the EU’s commitment to meet the sustainable development goal (SDG) 12.3 of halving consumer and retail food waste by 2030 and reducing food losses in production and supply chains1
For a more in-depth insight of how Raven performs in terms of food waste, we study the losses among different categories of products
Conventional retail typically offers a higher share of processed non-perishable food than Raven, and meat, which does affect the total food waste rate. In this case-study we have explored the food waste dynamics in the alternative food networks (AFNs) Raven
Summary
The recently revised EU Directive on Waste (EU, 2018) restates the EU’s commitment to meet the sustainable development goal (SDG) 12.3 of halving consumer and retail food waste by 2030 and reducing food losses in production and supply chains. Food waste in the EU is estimated at 20% of the total food produced. In 2012, 88 million metric tons of food were wasted, of which 53% occurred in households, and 5% in wholesale and retail (Stenmarck et al, 2016). Many studies have focused on understanding food waste at the consumer level (Aschemann-Witzel et al, 2015; Stancu et al, 2016). Fewer studies focus on retail (Cicatiello et al, 2017), while even fewer have studied the causes of food waste at the retail level (Teller et al, 2018)
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