Influence of the methodological approaches adopted on the food waste generation ratios

Abstract

Food waste (FW) accounting methodology is of paramount importance in Europe. The European Commission established a common methodology and minimum quality requirements for its measurement. Although these guidelines represents a great advance, important questions as the definition of flows, the Food Supply Chain (FSC) stages considered or the measurement methodology depending on the availability of resources remain open. The study aim is to analyze the implications of these approaches on the FW ratios, based on 109 ratios from different European frameworks obtained by literature review. Among these aspects, the considered FSC stages and the measurement methodology stand out as factors that influence the results; while the direct methods give more accurate values, the indirect methods tend to overestimate the generation. Highlight as significant result, the creation of a superstructure that collects the different approaches used in FW generation ratios and it serves as a tool for benchmarking.