Surplus food donation: Effectiveness, carbon footprint, and rebound effect

Sundin, Niina; Osowski, Christine Persson; Strid, Ingrid; Eriksson, Mattias

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2022.106271

Cited by 25 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In contrast to many studies [10,12,13], the results of this article cannot fully agree with the prioritization of food-waste-reduction measures as dictated by the waste hierarchy. While some products positively affect the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions or at least not releasing additional greenhouse gas emissions compared with current waste-management measure (use as animal feed or anaerobic digestion), the disposable tableware had a negative environmental impact, meaning that additional emissions are caused by the sale of the product.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, upcycled products should be seen as an extension of the product range at the retail level. For consumers (downstream stage), Sundin et al (2022) found a substantial rebound effect associated with re-spending substitution-related monetary savings due to food donation, offsetting 51% of the potential carbon-emissions savings [13]. As upcycled products are usually more expensive than their alternatives, the respective negative effects should not be observed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Eriksson and Spangberg (2017) came to the same conclusion based on their investigation on fresh fruit and vegetables [11]. Sulis et al (2021) showed that their food donation scenarios have the least environmental burden compared to landfilling [12], and Sundin et al (2022) also found higher carbon emission savings from food donation compared with anaerobic digestion, even when taking rebound effects related to food donation into account [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Sustainability Assessment of Food-Waste-Reduction Measures by Converting Surplus Food into Processed Food Products for Human Consumption

Lehn¹,

Schmidt²

2022

Sustainability

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Food waste is a major challenge for society as it causes economic, environmental and social problems. Many food-waste-reduction measures aim to prevent food waste at the source or by redistributing surplus food via donation. However, it would also be useful to evaluate surplus-food redistribution, where surplus food can be made available for human consumption by valorization (recycling). This paper evaluates food-waste-reduction measures, where surplus food is converted into processed food products for human consumption, which are then sold in a German retail store. The objective is to assess whether this kind of recycling of surplus food is effective in reducing food waste and how sustainable it is considering the economic, environmental and social impacts. The results of this pilot study show a total reduction of 19 kg of food waste within 17 weeks. Furthermore, all products were economically profitable, with a per product net revenue of sold upcycled products between EUR 0.42 and 0.70. The results of the environmental assessment varied from savings of 1.55 kg of CO2 equivalents/kg of product to the addition of 1.88 kg of CO2 equivalents/kg of product in product carbon footprint and the addition of between 0.42 and 0.70 mPt/kg of product in product environmental footprint. The social indicators could only be qualitatively described. The results, therefore, can only recommend this recycling option as an effective and efficient food-waste-reduction measure under optimal conditions. More research is needed to describe different recycling situations and to therefore improve the sustainability of the food supply chain.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Sustainability Assessment of Food-Waste-Reduction Measures by Converting Surplus Food into Processed Food Products for Human Consumption

Lehn¹,

Schmidt²

2022

Sustainability

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“…Food donation is one of the most significant measures to solve today’s food waste (Busetti, 2019 ; Kinach et al, 2020 ; Sundin et al, 2022 ). Developed countries such as Europe and the USA have comprehensive laws on food donation, and explicit provisions for possible disputes and liabilities (Eriksson et al, 2015 ; González-Torre & Coque, 2016 ; Vlaholias et al, 2015 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The status of the global food waste mitigation policies: experience and inspiration for China

Shen

Hong

et al. 2023

Environ Dev Sustain

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Food waste has become a significant challenge faced by the community with a shared future for mankind, and it has also caused a considerable impact on China's food security. Scholars across disciplines, international organizations, and especially policymakers are increasingly interested in food waste. Policies are seen as a powerful factor in reducing food waste, but current research on related policies is more scattered. This paper summarizes and analyzes the experiences of food waste policy development and implementation by systematically reviewing the studies on food waste reduction policies. The results of this paper's analysis show that current global food waste policies are focused at the national strategic level, with approaches such as legislation, food donation, waste recycling, awareness and education, and data collection. At the same time, we find that the current experience of developed countries in policy formulation and implementation is beneficial for policy formulation in developing countries. And taking China as an example, we believe that developing countries can improve food waste policies in the future by improving legislation, guiding the development of food banks, promoting social governance, and strengthening scientific research projects. These policies will all contribute strongly to global environmental friendliness. In addition, we discuss some of the factors that influence the development of food waste policies and argue that in the future, more consideration needs to be given to the effects of policy implementation and that case studies should focus more on developing countries. This will contribute to the global sustainable development process.

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“…For this reason, authors suggest government to finance the relevant infrastructure for recycling disposed products and consumers' education for shifting towards responsible consumption including earlier food donation. Similarly, Sundin et al [23] prove the environmental feasibility of food donation calculating a double of the benefit comparing to anaerobic digestion. Kumar and Dholakia [24] see the huge role of the firms to change consumers' behavior.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

What about Responsible Consumption? A Survey Focused on Food Waste and Consumer Habits

2022

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The article analyses the problems of food waste and responsible consumption that include taking into account environmental-social-health and economic impacts of products and services. The study raises the research question related to whether people consume food responsibly. Analysis of research literature sources, systematization, synthesis, generalization, quantitative research and data processing methods were used in the article. The questionnaire was arranged on the pollimill.com website, and the link was shared with selected possible respondents. The survey was carried out in Lithuania and in European countries. The survey sample is equal to 1080 respondents (566 respondents from Lithuania and 514 from Italy, Poland, Latvia, Germany and France). A simple random sample was used in this research. The survey highlighted that the majority of respondents in the survey state that food is not often wasted. In addition, findings show that the population of Lithuania emits slightly less food than the population of the European countries participating in the survey. These findings could be crucial for the future green directions from the side of policymakers.

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Surplus food donation: Effectiveness, carbon footprint, and rebound effect

Cited by 25 publications

References 46 publications

Sustainability Assessment of Food-Waste-Reduction Measures by Converting Surplus Food into Processed Food Products for Human Consumption

Sustainability Assessment of Food-Waste-Reduction Measures by Converting Surplus Food into Processed Food Products for Human Consumption

The status of the global food waste mitigation policies: experience and inspiration for China

What about Responsible Consumption? A Survey Focused on Food Waste and Consumer Habits

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