The food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of food surplus and food waste

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:76

Article

Papargyropoulou, Effie¹  Lozano, Rodrigo²  Steinberger, Julia K.³  Wright, Nigel⁴  bin Ujang, Zaini⁵ 

[1] Univ Teknol Malaysia, Malaysia Japan Int Inst Technol, Kuala Lumpur 54100, Malaysia

[2] Univ Utrecht, Copernicus Inst Sustainable Dev, NL-3584 CS Utrecht, Netherlands

[3] Univ Leeds, Sch Earth & Environm, Sustainabil Res Inst, Leeds LS2 9JT, W Yorkshire, England

[4] Univ Leeds, Sch Civil Engn, Leeds LS2 9JT, W Yorkshire, England

[5] Univ Teknol Malaysia, Off Vice Chancellor, Johor Baharu 81310, Malaysia

关键词: Food waste;    Food surplus;    Waste minimization;    Waste prevention;    Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP);   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.020

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The unprecedented scale of food waste in global food supply chains is attracting increasing attention due to its environmental, social and economic impacts. Drawing on interviews with food waste specialists, this study construes the boundaries between food surplus and food waste, avoidable and unavoidable food waste, and between waste prevention and waste management. This study suggests that the first step towards a more sustainable resolution of the food waste issue is to adopt a sustainable production and consumption approach and tackle food surplus and waste throughout the global food supply chain. The authors examine the factors that give rise to food waste throughout the food supply chain, and propose a framework to identify and prioritize the most appropriate options for prevention and management of food waste. The proposed framework interprets and applies the waste hierarchy in the context of food waste. It considers the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social), offering a more holistic approach in addressing food waste. Additionally, it considers the materiality and temporality of food. The food waste hierarchy posits that prevention, through minimization of food surplus and avoidable food waste, is the most attractive option. The second most attractive option involves the distribution of food surplus to groups affected by food poverty, followed by the option of converting food waste to animal feed. Although the proposed food waste hierarchy requires a fundamental re-think of the current practices and systems in place, it has the potential to deliver substantial environmental, social and economic benefits. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free