Separate collection and bio-waste valorization in the Italian poultry sector by material flow analysis

Christian Bux,Vera Amicarelli

doi:10.1007/s10163-022-01366-0

Abstract

Poultry meat production and consumption face several challenges under economic, social and environmental perspectives, and increasing concerns are associated with food loss and waste minimization. One of the main issues is related to the absence of a homogeneous and standardized separate collection of bio-waste at country level, which makes chicken bones, skin and food waste valorization a challenging goal. The present research, implementing the material flow analysis to the Italian poultry sector, aims at measuring poultry-related co-products and by-products, exploring food waste, chicken bones and skin and the current trends in the Italian bio-waste separate collection. Then, it discusses alternative separate collection strategies and sustainable consumption habits. Data have been collected according to a research triangulation approach, whereas system boundaries consider slaughterhouse, distribution and final consumption stage. It emerges that more than 1.50 Mt of live animals have been processed to obtain 0.46 Mt of fresh meat and 0.76 Mt of co-products and by-products, of which more than 0.32 Mt are represented by chicken bones and skin. In addition, more than 0.15 Mt of food waste have been recorded. The research adds an extra step towards the identification of awareness campaigns and separate collection strategies at national level.

Highlights

Poultry meat production and consumption face several challenges under economic, social and environmental perspectives, and increasing concerns are associated with food loss and waste minimization
Among “distribution”, it is interesting to distinguish between traditional retail (338,838 t) and modern retail (228,628 t), where a certain amount of material streams is accounted as food waste and/or bones and skin (128,279 t), whereas at food service it is possible to estimate such a variable at 5,773 t
The available amount of fresh meat at household consumption amounts to 673,466 t, of which 643,160 t for human nutritional intake and approximately 30,306 t represented by food waste, bones and skins

Summary

Introduction

Poultry meat production and consumption face several challenges under economic, social and environmental perspectives, and increasing concerns are associated with food loss and waste minimization. Meat processing and consumption, as well as food waste generation, impose concrete challenges either under social, environmental or financial perspective, and high rate of natural resource consumption in terms of water and energy. The agribusiness, defined as the “sum of all operations involved in manufacture and distribution of farm supplies, production operations on the farm, and the storage, processing, and distribution of farm commodities”, must be able to maximize its profit without compromising consumers satisfaction and environmental needs [9, 10] It represents one of the major land users, as well as one of the main responsible of biodiversity and ecosystems alteration, causing

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