Development of a tool to optimize economic and environmental feasibility of food waste chains

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 focuses on food and its inedible parts that exit the supply chain and thus are lost or wasted. This work addresses the food waste problem by presenting the development of a tool to design business models to reduce the production of food waste. This has been developed within the LIFE16 project iRexfo, coordinated by the University of Perugia. The tool aims at transferring the results obtained in a pilot region (Umbria, Italy) to 4 other regions in Europe. It has been coded in Python and has a graphical user interface (GUI) to insert inputs and display outputs. The GUI has been developed in FLASK and it is hosted in the website of PythonAnywhere. A case study on the application of the software is also presented, mainly based on data retrieved in the Umbria region, Italy. Together with economic analysis, also, environmental assessment is performed.

Production of Value-Added Products as Food Ingredients via Microbial Fermentation

“…Only the nutritional need of humans is not sufficient as it is estimated that four billion tons of agricultural and food processing waste will be generated by 2050 [141]. For example, 88 million tons of food waste are generated in only Europe according to the European Commission [142]. Moreover, agricultural and food wastes cause many environmental problems and greenhouse gas emissions.…”

“…Commission [142]. Moreover, agricultural and food wastes cause many environmental problems and greenhouse gas emissions.…”