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The power of prevention and valorisation – Environmental impacts of reducing surplus and waste of bakery products at retail
... If there are no confidential barriers according to the secrecy legislation (SFS 2009:400), this information can be shared with others in the food supply chain. The potential benefits of sharing data in combination with surplus utilization was discussed by Bartek et al. (2024), however, their study did not consider the policy aspect. Therefore, the third Enforcing Best Available Technology scenario was designed to simulate a stricter reinforcement This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. ...
... All alternative scenarios were modelled using the presented baseline as reference, but applying the calculated change in inputs needed to simulate the shift to each of the four scenarios. Inputs for transportation used average data presented by Weber et al. (2023), while inputs for ingredients and energy was based on findings by Bartek et al. (2024), and losses along the supply chain was averaged on data from previous studies (Brancoli et al. 2019;Hildersten et al. 2024). This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. ...
Contemporary environmental concerns have led to the prioritization of sustainable production and material circularity, no matter what the industrial field of activity. Bread waste is a major element of overall food waste since, worldwide, bread remains a widespread staple food. A considerable proportion of bread consumption is of fresh, baked bread, consumed daily, generating substantial amounts of stale bread. Therefore, efforts to reintroduce this waste into the food value chain can make a significant contribution to reaching zero food waste, which is a major target in European countries. Possible ways to produce new raw materials through starch enzymatic hydrolysis include brewing, which is an activity in which incorporating stale bread is of great interest. Mashing parameters in brewing processing are the main focus of this study, primarily the time and temperature required to acquire optimal enzymatic activity for starch-efficient hydrolysis. Extending the mashing time to 290 min, within a temperature range of 45–75 °C, allowed us to replace 50% of the required malt with stale bread, thus obtaining a successful pale ale beer. The incorporation of stale bread in a 50:50 ratio did not affect the overall character of the beer, although the alcohol levels stood around 2% below a standard beer’s average level. Depending on the brewer’s final goal, this lighter kind of beer may be well-aligned with new consumer trends supporting more sustainable and lower-alcohol beverages.
Food waste (FW) has become a global concern, with an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes lost annually, costing about $1 trillion. Environmental and social consequences of FW are significant, contributing to 6% of European Unions’ greenhouse gasemissions and affecting global food security. FW occurs is a complex issue occurring at various stages of the food supply chain (FSC) and is influenced by multiple factors such as infrastructure, available knowledge and socio-economic conditions. Developed countries FW is more prevalent at the consumption stage, whereas in the developing countries losses occur in agricultural production, post-harvest and distribution stage. Accurate quantification of FW across the supply chain is crucial and monitoring key performance indicators helps identify areas for improvement. The European Union mandates FW measurement, aligning with sustainable development goals, emphasizing the need for effective waste prevention measures. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses approach was utilized to conduct a systematic literature review on FW key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitoring tools. The research identified 22 KPIs, categorized into three levels of the FSC: primary, secondary and tertiary. The most common KPIs included FW per capita, FW per portion and FW percentage. The study further discusses FW prevention measures and essential monitoring tools for addressing FW throughout the supply chain.
Purpose
Regarding the retail internal supply chain (SC), both retailers and research are currently focused on reactive food waste reduction options in stores (e.g. discounting or donations). These options reduce waste after a surplus has emerged but do not prevent an emerging surplus in the first place. This paper aims to reveal how retailers can proactively prevent waste along the SC and why the options identified are impactful but, at the same time, often complex to implement.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors follow an exploratory approach for a nascent topic to obtain insights into measures taken in practice. Interviews with experts from retail build the main data source.
Findings
The authors identify and analyze 21 inbound, warehousing, distribution and store-related options applied in grocery retail. Despite the expected high overall impact on waste, prevention measures in inbound logistics and distribution and warehousing have not been intensively applied to date.
Practical implications
The authors provide a structured approach to mitigate waste within retailers' operations and categorize the types of barriers that need to be addressed.
Originality/value
This research provides a better understanding of prevention options in retail operations, which has not yet been empirically explored. Furthermore, this study conceptualizes prevention and reduction options and reveals implementation patterns.
Redesigning the European food system on the basis of circularity principles could bring environmental benefits for Europe and the world. Here we deploy a biophysical optimization model to explore the effects of adopting three circularity scenarios in the European Union (EU)27 + UK. We calculate a potential reduction of 71% in agricultural land use and 29% per capita in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, while producing enough healthy food within a self-sufficient European food system. Under global food shortages, savings in agricultural land could be used to feed an additional 767 million people outside the EU (+149%), while reducing per capita greenhouse gas emissions by 38% but increasing overall emissions by 55% due to the increased population served. Transitioning the EU’s food system towards circularity implies sequential changes among all its components and has great potential to safeguard human and planetary health.
Retailers' food waste, often consisting of edible food, could be reduced, while simultaneously tackling food insecurity, through surplus food donations to vulnerable groups. However, sustainability assessments of food donations covering all three sustainability perspectives are scarce, hampering decision-makers in prioritizing donation as a food waste management measure. This Swedish case study assessed the environmental, economic, and social aspects of surplus food donation and examined trade-offs between the different sustainability perspectives. Methods included life cycle assessment, net economic benefit calculation, social life cycle assessment based on food security questionnaires, and nutritional assessments. The results showed that food donation was a way to reduce food waste benefitting the environment and adding economic and social value, to vulnerable people in particular. Despite substantial rebound effects offsetting some potential environmental savings, food bag donations outcompeted anaerobic digestion as a food waste management option in terms of environmental mitigation effect. Regarding trade-offs, accrued savings causing the rebound effects generated important social value for the donation recipients, by relieving their personal finances. Private and public investment was required to fund the donation units, but positive economic value was generated through valorization of surplus food. Food bag donations also showed potential to alleviate recipients' food insecurity and to contribute positively to recipients' nutrition intake. To realize the potential of surplus food donation, policy measures should be better aligned with the waste hierarchy. Despite some trade-offs and inability to solve the underlying problems of food insecurity, food donations have great short-term potential to contribute to a more sustainable society.
Grocery retailers are in a dilemma. They often prioritize availability over other aspects due to strong competition in this sector and the imperative of realizing sales. The target for many grocery retailers has been high on-shelf availability and large variety to increase customer satisfaction. However, this policy contributes to a significant share of overstock. The economic pressure of unsold products, the environmental impact of wasted resources, and the ethical questions arising from discarding edible food, have increasingly thrown the spotlight on grocery retailers to change their strategies. Grocery retailers are thus facing a trade-off between increasing attractiveness via high availability on the one hand, and the environmental, social, and financial impacts of overstock, on the other. One common practice in dealing with overstock is mainly being reactive to mitigate the impact, using initiatives such as price promotions or donations. This explorative study investigates options for how grocery retailers can proactively reduce food waste via better planning of their store operations. Seven case companies participated in this qualitative study, where we focused on ultra-fresh products as the most important waste category. Face-to-face interviews with managers were the primary source for data collection. The heterogeneity of our sample enabled us to build a common understanding of proactive options to reduce food waste with enhanced operations. The analysis reveals six coherent and distinct topics. A basis for all proactive operational planning processes is (1) the use of a comprehensive database and information systems. This builds the foundation for (2) tailored demand forecasts related to perishable product-specific requirements. Subsequently, consideration is needed of (3) the enhanced planning of assortment sizes, (4) the definitions of differentiated service levels and (5) the tailored ordering and replenishment processes that impact food waste. Finally, (6) salvage options, such as dynamic pricing, secondary usage, and sustainable waste streams constitute valuable mitigation strategies. We formulated 15 propositions that could support the decisions of grocery retailers developing proactive food waste reduction practices. These propositions will guide future research, as they provide a coherent and cohesive picture of related topics in grocery retail operations.
In order to fill the knowledge gap on the reduction of losses and waste of bread and other bakery and confectionery products (BBCP) in the selected retail level, studies have been conducted to estimate the scale of waste of this type of food at retailers, cause of occurrence of such losses have been determined, along with methods of limiting and preventing this phenomenon. Data about the scale of losses have been collected by monitoring diary from the sample of small shops (N = 5), bakeries with own shops (N = 5). Additionally data from a retail network (N = 29 shops) taken from the cash register system. The qualitative data came from 9 individual in-depth reviews with trade experts. The analysis of the data shows that the total volume of losses in BBCP trade in small shops was around 2 kg/week (excluding goods returned for reprocessing). Based on the value BBCP’s losses in the retail network accounted for 42% of the total losses. Moreover, they reach 20% of the bakery & confectionery department turnover. The BBCP returns from trade to reprocessing were recorded at 8-10% of the average daily order value. The 3 main categories of causes behind this phenomenon have been identified: related to the organisation of the bakery section at the retailer, the manner of displaying products and human errors. The ways of preventing losses and waste in the examined product category have also been named. The obtained results can be used for developing programs and strategies to limit trade losses in bakery & confectionery sections. The examined product category should be understood to be the main goal of indexation programs and other steps aiming to limit food waste.
Bread has played an integral part in people’s life for a long period of time. It plays an important role in our daily eating lives. It has its period of usa-bility and from that point forward, the bread waste is produced. However, the causes of bread waste and mitigation strategy for reducing waste at various levels of the supply chain are still being studied. This study examines recent literature on the major cause of bread waste and its percentage in the bread supply chain. There are various waste mitigation measures that have been evaluated in order to tackle the loss rate at the supplier-retailer interaction. This research contributes to a better understanding of the most effective strategy for reducing supply chain losses. It may help managers, decision-makers, and practitioners to identify the sources of waste in their supply chain and make effective decisions to decrease waste percentage.
Fifteen million tons of bread is annually produced in Iran of which the 80% of share in production belongs to traditional bakeries. The present study examines the aspects of the energetic, economic, and environmental impacts of production of Iranian breads (Barbari, Lavash, and Sangak). The results showed that energy demand of a typical baking process of Iranian breads is 22.93–26.08 MJ kg⁻¹. The annual energy utilization of these bakeries is 239.57 TJ, accompanied with 13,308 ton year⁻¹ of CO2 emissions. Sangak bread production had the highest energy efficiency, energy productivity, and the lowest rejected energy. In terms of economic aspects, the highest net income, profit to cost, and economic productivity, were related to Barbari bread production. Sangak bread production had the least environmental impacts. Lavash bread production, although it is the thinnest bread, had the highest energy consumption, was responsible for emitting the largest share of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) to the atmosphere and it had the lowest economic return. The flour was the most influential input on the energy efficiency, cost, and GHG emissions among the three examined types of bread production. Therefore, improving wheat cultivars and flour production process, may reduce the energy consumption and the GHG emissions in the bread industry.
Reducing food wastage is one of the challenges in achieving global food security and transforming current food systems. Since human nutrition is closely dependent on cereal production, research was undertaken aimed at understanding the food losses in the baking and confectionery industry (BCI) in Poland, in particular at determining the volume, reasons and ways of reducing losses, identifying possibly all of the reasons for losses in BCI using the Ishikawa 5M + 1E diagram and determining the level of significance and probability of risk of food losses in the analysed sector. Two research methods were used. Quantitative data were collected using the mass balance method from five businesses that served as case studies. Qualitative data were collected through individual in-depth interviews with 17 industry experts. The companies’ average daily losses ranged from 0.8 to 6.4 tons, representing 9.7 to 14.4% of production volume, including 10.4–13.4% of bread losses and 6.8–24.4% of fresh pastry losses. The highest losses were generated by transport departments and these were exclusively retail returns. Following the Ishikawa concept, 31 primary and 94 secondary reasons for food losses were identified. Using the probability of loss risk, a toolkit for loss prevention and mitigation across all departments within businesses (raw materials magazine, production section, final product magazine and final product transport) and a set of horizontal tools were identified, including specialised training for employees and activities in several areas, e.g., technical status and production technology, organisation and planning, logistics and sales and cooperation with retail. This study, conducted in Poland, offers valuable results for developing programmes and strategies to prevent and manage food losses in BCI. Many of the solutions proposed in both toolkits can bring economic benefits without involving additional high costs.
The use of food waste as feedstock in the manufacture of high-value products is a promising avenue to contribute to circular economy. Considering that the majority of environmental impacts of products are determined in the early phases of product development, it is crucial to integrate life cycle assessment during these phases. This study integrates environmental considerations in the development of solid-state fermentation based on the cultivation of N. intermedia for the production of a fungal food product using surplus bread as a substrate. The product can be sold as a ready-to-eat meal to reduce waste while generating additional income. Four inoculation scenarios were proposed, based on the use of bread, molasses, and glucose as substrate, and one scenario based on backslopping. The environmental performance was assessed, and the quality of the fungal product was evaluated in terms of morphology and protein content. The protein content of the fungal food product was similar in all scenarios, varying from 25% to 29%. The scenario based on back-slopping showed the lowest environmental impacts while maintaining high protein content. The results show that the inoculum production and the solid-state fermentation are the two environmental hotspots and should be in focus when optimizing the process.
One of the basic problems of sustainability in modern society is the reduction of waste, particularly when it comes to food. Food waste has negative impacts on different dimensions of sustainability: social (hunger), economic (resource costs), and environmental (resource consumption and waste generation). This paper focuses on waste reduction through improving the inventory management system in the dairy distribution chain by the application of modern information and communication technologies (ICT). The approach is tested and verified in a case study by application of simulation modelling. Two inventory management models are created, and their impact on waste in the distribution part of the supply chain is examined. Model 1 represents the current dairy inventory management system in the supply of retail stores. Model 2 is based on a higher level of information connectivity between participants (RFID product labelling and the appropriate level of information technology), enabling automatic product ordering and changes in inventory management policy. The obtained results confirm that coordinated inventory management, supported by the application of modern ICT, can significantly contribute to the improvement of the sustainability of the food supply chain, and provide an exact quantification of the given contribution in the case of the dairy industry.
Food losses and waste are associated with inefficient use of agricultural land, water and other resources and agricultural raw materials. Reducing the scale of food wastage is one of the most urgent challenges for food system operators, starting from agriculture to food consumption in the households. This is all the more urgent as food insecurity has deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are few studies on how to reduce food losses in food processing sectors, as most researchers focus on the demand side of the market, especially within household consumption. To fill the knowledge gaps related to the inefficient production system in the baking and confectionery industry (BCI), research was conducted to estimate the scale of losses in BCI in Poland, determine their causes and assess the risk of their occurrence, identify retrieve points (RP) and ways of reducing and preventing losses. Two research methods were used. Quantitative data were collected using an Internet survey method on a sample of 48 bakeries. The qualitative data was provided by 5 individual in-depth interviews with experts from the surveyed industry. The results showed that the total scale of losses in Polish BCI reached 2.39% (in 2017) and 2.63% (in 2018) of the weight of manufactured products. The loss analysis was presented within respective sections of production: raw materials magazine (RMM), production section (PS), final product magazine (FPM), final product transport (FPT). The highest loss level was reported for PS—1.56% (2017), 1.85% (2018). Additionally, 12 loss risks and nine main cause categories were identified. Potential 6 retrieve points (RP) during the baking processes were indicated: making and handling intermediate products and dough; portioning and forming of dough, baking, customised packing, shipping (storage), transport by own fleet. The type of risk, the cause of losses, their consequences, and manners of preventing losses were specified for each RP. Being the first study of this kind in Poland, its results are key to build a road map for further researches focused on reduction of food losses, more sustainable management of resources in BCI. It might contribute to corporate social responsibility and value co-creation.
Retail food waste represents a minor fraction of the total amount of food waste produced along the food supply chain (tenfold lower than the quantity of food disposed of by consumers at home). However, the role of retailers is crucial in shaping both the behavior of upstream food chain actors and the preferences of consumers. This paper studies the causes of food waste in retail stores and discusses potential mitigating actions based on the results of nine focus groups held in 2017 with 67 foods category managers. Participants used sticky notes to outline both the causes of in-store food waste and potential actions to address it. Sticky notes reporting 228 causes and 124 actions were collected during the study. Data were analyzed across thematic macro-categories and linked to the responsibility of supply chain actors, including managers at all store management levels. Results revealed that food category managers consider in-store operations (which include their actions and those of their subordinates) to be most responsible for retail food waste. However, when it comes to proposing actions against food waste, they believe that store managers are mainly responsible for the implementation of waste reduction actions. This study suggests that food category managers are key actors to involve in the fight against retail food waste. Greater effort should also be put towards informing and encouraging store managers to take action against food waste in supermarkets.
Bread waste represents a significant part of food waste in Sweden. At the same time, the return system established between bakeries and retailers enables a flow of bread waste that is not contaminated with other food waste products. This provides an opportunity for alternative valorisation and waste management options, in addition to the most common municipal waste treatment, namely anaerobic digestion and incineration. An attributional life cycle assessment of the management of 1 kg of surplus bread was conducted to assess the relative environmental impacts of alternative and existing waste management options. Eighteen impact categories were assessed using the ReCiPe methodology. The different management options that were investigated for the surplus bread are donation, use as animal feed, beer production, ethanol production, anaerobic digestion, and incineration. These results are also compared to reducing the production of bread by the amount of surplus bread (reduction at the source). The results support a waste hierarchy where reduction at the source has the highest environmental savings, followed by use of surplus bread as animal feed, donation, for beer production and for ethanol production. Anaerobic digestion and incineration offer the lowest environmental savings, particularly in a low-impact energy system. The results suggests that Sweden can make use of the established return system to implement environmentally preferred options for the management of surplus bread.
Food banks that redistribute surplus food from retailers and the food industry to people in need are not a new concept globally, but their connection to food waste prevention is new. As a result, new types of food redistribution units are emerging and diversifying to find new target groups and distribution methods. The aim of this study was to identify and study surplus food redistribution units in Sweden, and then to assess the impact on several sustainability indicators for selected redistribution units, in order to increase knowledge on the types of values these redistribution concepts generate. The methods used for analyzing the scenarios were Environmental Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Costing and Social Life Cycle Assessment. The results showed that providing food bags to socially exposed people generated the largest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions per kg of redistributed food (−1.2 kg CO2 eq./FU). Reprocessing surplus food to a high-quality end-product was attributed a high social value, due to job creation effects in the high number of working hours required per kg of redistributed food. With regard to economic impacts, all but two scenarios studied had monthly financial losses, and therefore needed other sources of financial support.
Food security and biodiversity conservation are closely interconnected challenges to be addressed to achieve a sustainable food system on a global scale. Due to the complex nature of food production and consumption system, quantifying the impacts of food supply chains on biodiversity is challenging. Life cycle assessment (LCA) allows for systematically addressing environmental impacts along supply chains, representing a reference methodology that can be applied for assessing food systems. In the present study, 32 representative food products of EU consumption were selected and their environmental impacts calculated through a process-based LCA. The role of EU food consumption in the current biodiversity decline has been evaluated adopting both midpoint and endpoint indicators. A comparison of the impact drivers was performed. Meat products, the underpinning land use for agricultural purposes, and climate change represent the main hotspots of impacts on biodiversity. Notwithstanding several drivers of biodiversity loss can be accounted for with LCA, the evidence of increasing biodiversity decline at global scale indicates that the accounting system should be further expanded, especially for what concerns refining ecotoxicity, including resource overexploitation and invasive species. This study illustrates: how far the current LCA based impact assessment framework may help address the drivers of biodiversity loss; which are the main uncertainties associated to results stemming from the application of different endpoint methods; which aspects need to be elaborated further to ensure a comprehensive assessment of biodiversity impacts due to food production and consumption.
Bread is a staple food in Norway, with a yearly per capita consumption of 52 kg. It is an important source of energy, dietary fibre and protein as well as certain minerals and vitamins. Previous studies have shown that bread has a relatively low environmental impact compared with other foods. Food waste studies, however, have shown that bread and other baked goods have a high wastage rate in Norway. On the basis of lower Norwegian wheat yields, it is therefore expected that the environmental impact of bread could be higher than in other European countries. The purpose of this study was to assess the environmental impact of bread from cradle to grave, identify environmental hotspots, examine the role of packaging in bread waste and identify possible remediation measures with a particular focus on the post-farm value chain. The results showed that for every kilogram of bread consumed, the global warming potential was 0.99 kg CO2-eq, the eutrophication potential was 7.2 g PO4-eq, the acidification potential was 8.4 g SO2-eq and the cumulative energy demand was 18 MJ. The principal uncertainty within the calculation was the use of database data for the 21 ingredients. For example, the effect of soil mineralisation, which could give significant CO2 and N2O emissions, was not included because figures have only been quantified for a few ingredients and there is no international agreement on the methodology. The primary hotspot was the production of the ingredients, principally at the agricultural stage, while bread waste took the second place. The highest potential for the reduction of post-farm environmental impact lies in reducing product wastage at the retail and consumer stages. Consumers already employ strategies to reduce wastage, such as using extra packaging and freezing and toasting bread. This study shows that other consumer packaging solutions can keep the bread fresh for longer, thus reducing wastage and the need for the abovementioned consumer strategies. Nevertheless, other researches in this subject have shown that consumer preferences and behaviours play a significant role in the creation of bread waste, and this should therefore be taken into account when planning reduction measures.
Objective: To quantify the performance of food products in a sustainable diet based on the balance of their contribution to nutrient intake and environmental impact, within the context of the Dutch diet.
Design: While fixing the quantity of a specific food group at different levels, optimized diets that met nutrient requirements and stayed as close as possible to the current Dutch diet were calculated, in order to understand its potential environmental impact and its nutritional quality. Bread & breakfast cereals, dairy, and meat were compared between 0 and 250% of current intake. Their performance is expressed in the relationship between the quantity of these food products and (1) the environmental impact of diets and (2) the nutrient balance of the diets.
Setting: The Netherlands.
Subjects: Women aged 31–50.
Results: The amount of bread & breakfast cereals in the optimized diets were inversely correlated with their environmental impact. The nutrient balance of the optimized diets was maintained despite varying cereal content, with the expected improvement over the current diet. Increasing amounts of dairy in the optimized diet were associated with an increase in environmental impact and meat with a steep increase. The nutrient balance of optimized diets with varying dairy and meat contents was also maintained at high levels, even at 0% content.
Conclusions: Bread and breakfast cereals are sources of nutrients with a better environmental performance compared to dairy or meat within the context of the Dutch diet. It is possible to optimize diets for environmental impact whilst maintaining a high nutrient balance.
The growing volumes of food globally lost or wasted and implications for food security and sustainability have raised the concern of researchers, governments, international organizations and grass-root movements. Much research and experiences investigating food waste causes and drivers focus on one specific segment of the food supply chain and limit the analysis to the situation of one or few countries, while the few studies of wider geographical scope also target other relevant and diversified objectives (e.g., food waste definition, quantification, environmental and economic impacts, and recommendations for interventions). This study, carried out by a network of European institutions involved in research and initiatives against food waste, focuses on the analysis of a broad area, Europe, through a wide and systematic literature review and consultation with stakeholders in international focus groups. The food supply chain was divided into seven segments and three main contexts were defined for the examination of food waste sources: Technological, Institutional (related to organisational factors, i.e., business management, economy, legislation, and policy), and Social (related to consumers’ behaviours and lifestyles). Results suggest a wide and multifaceted problem, interconnected across all stages of the food supply chain, from primary production, to final consumption. Within each context, the identified drivers have been grouped according to the possibilities and the type of interventions for food waste reduction. A final cross-contextual prioritization distinguished food waste sources related to (A) inherent characteristics of food; (B) social and economic factors; (C) individual non-readily changeable behaviours; (D) other priorities targeted by private and public stakeholders; (E) diversified factors, such as mismanagement, inefficient legislation, lack of awareness or information; and sub-optimal use of available technologies, which could be more promptly changed. Such diversification of causes calls for specific monitoring systems, targeted policy measures, and actions of individual stakeholders at each stage of the food supply chain.
Bread represents a staple food in many parts of the world including Europe. Depending on the region of origin and the respective cultural heritage bread is made with different ingredients and is consumed in various forms. This work consists of an environmental sustainability assessment of 21 different types of bread, representing a wide spectrum of typologies of such food consumed across the European Union, via a Life Cycle Assessment approach. The embedded energy and equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of each type of bread were estimated, from cradle to bakery gate, by considering a mass, a nutritional value and a price based functional unit. Overall, the results have highlighted the variability of the embedded energy and the equivalent GHG emissions associated to the consumption of the 21 kinds of bread rooted in the cultural environment EU countries. When considering a functional unit of 1kg of bread, the Cumulative Energy Demand results range from 9 MJ/kg to 32.9 MJ/kg. The Global Warming Potential indicator has a minimum value of 0.5 kgCO2eq/kg and a maximum of 6.6 kgCO2eq/kg. For a functional unit amounting to a 100kcal provided by the consumption of bread, the Cumulative Energy Demand results vary from 0.33 MJ/100kcal to 0.93 MJ/100kcal whilst the Global Warming Potential indicator varies from 0.019 kgCO2eq/100kcal to 0.135 kgCO2eq/100kcal. For a functional unit amounting to the quantity of bread purchased with 1€ (weighted according to the purchasing price of each nation in the European Union), the Cumulative Energy Demand results vary from 1.197 MJ/€ to 3.708MJ/€ whilst the Global Warming Potential indicator varies from 0.15 kgCO2eq/€ to 0.376 kgCO2eq/€.
I use a structural model with perishability data to analyze the welfare effects of two potential solutions to grocery-retail food waste: dynamic pricing and organic waste landfill bans.
The generation of bread waste at suppliers and retailers is often linked to the production of surplus bread. This study reports the results of the first direct quantification and economic assessment of surplus bread conducted in Italy, involving a panel of 12 bakeries and their branches located in the Lazio region, which compiled a daily diary for 5 months. They are small-scale bakeries which reflect the typical structure of the Italian businesses in the bakery sector, producing fresh bread and selling it directly to consumers. The surplus bread measured during the study consists of 6,694 kg in total, with an average quantity of 4.83 kg/day per bakery. Studying the three main products (common bread, focaccia bread and bread rolls), the average rate of surplus is respectively 5.88 %, 3.99 % and 5.28 % of the production. The corresponding economic loss represents, on average, 5.44 % of the daily turnover. A set of factors seems to exert highest influence on the generation of surplus, as the range of production, location and number of customers. When surplus bread occurs, in 63 % of the cases it is managed on alternative routes to avoid disposal. Even if detected surplus bread does not necessarily become waste, it indeed represents a big loss for bakeries.
Purpose
Food waste is a severe problem affecting the supply chain due to its significant adverse social and environmental effects. Even if the topic is hotly debated in the literature, there is a lack of research about the success factors influencing food waste prevention initiatives retailers undertake.
Design/methodology/approach
The research analyzes how several variables (i.e. product-related variables and technology-enabling variables) might impact the success of the sales of products close to the expiration date that is sold at a discounted price. Data from 390.000 products sold at a discounted price in 2020 and 2021 by a large Italian food retailer were examined with a regression analysis.
Findings
The results highlight that both product-related and technology-enabling variables influence the success of food prevention initiatives aimed at selling products close to the expiration date at a discounted price. In particular, the authors stress the importance of digital technologies in supporting food waste prevention initiatives.
Practical implications
The study offers several practical implications for managers in structuring a waste prevention initiative. The introduction of digital technologies, the monitoring of specific variables or the ability to find synergies with other food waste prevention initiatives are discussed to support retailers in reducing food losses.
Originality/value
The paper is focused on the retailer perspective, which is barely investigated due to the difficulty in finding data.
Product environmental footprint of the bread industry provides a certain intensity of the load on the environment at each stage of the production cycle. The first stage in this cycle is the technology of growing a particular crop. The level of negative impact of elements of such agricultural technology on the environment depends on a number of factors and can be minimized by using environmentally friendly fertilizers, plant growth regulators and plant protection products. This section is devoted to the issue of minimizing the negative burden on the environment during the cultivation of grain as the first link in сonditions of Ukraine and a number of other issues.KeywordsEnvironment footprintBread industryAgricultureTechnology
The management of staggering volume of food waste generated (∼1.3 billion tons) is a serious challenge. The readily available untapped food waste can be promising feedstock for setting up biorefineries and one good example is bread waste (BW). The current review emphasis on capability of BW as feedstock for sustainable production of platform and commercially important chemicals. It describes the availability of BW (>100 million tons) to serve as a feedstock for sustainable biorefineries followed by examples of platform chemicals which have been produced using BW including ethanol, lactic acid, succinic acid and 2,3-butanediol through biological route. The BW-based production of these metabolites is compared against 1G and 2G (lignocellulosic biomass) feedstocks. The review also discusses logistic and supply chain challenges associated with use of BW as feedstock. Towards the end, it is concluded with a discussion on life cycle analysis of BW-based production and comparison with other feedstocks.
To impose the zero-waste strategy through the diverse valorization route, this study used bread waste (BW) as the model compound. To realize these grand technical challenges, BW was enzymatically hydrolyzed to obtain a monomer sugar compound (glucose), and glucose was used as the carbon substrate in heterotrophic cultivation of Euglena gracilis (E. gracilis). Cultivation of E. gracilis using cultivation medium derived from BW was evaluated from a perspective of an economic viability. In addition, the more production of the target compound (paramylon, β-1,3-glucan) stemmed from E. gracilis was achieved (1.93 g L⁻¹d⁻¹; 24% higher productivity than that of control). To approach zero waste disposal, bread waste residue (BWR) derived from enzymatic hydrolysis of BW was valorized into syngas. To offer a greener pyrolysis platform for BWR, CO2 was used as a raw material. Here in this study, the mechanistic functionality of CO2 was disclosed. In detail, CO2 reacted with volatile matters (VMs) evolved from BWR, thereby resulting in CO2 reduction. Simultaneously, reduced CO2 also led to oxidation of VMs. Such consecutive gas-phase-reactions (GPRs) played a critical role to enhance CO formation. Lastly, the identified GPRs induced by CO2 were tried to expedite the reaction kinetics in the presence of 5 wt.% of Ni/SiO2 catalyst. As a result, the molar concentrations of H2 and CO in gaseous pyrolytic products derived from catalytic pyrolysis in CO2 environment were 2- and 6-times higher, respectively, than that from pyrolysis without catalyst in N2 environment.
The management of food waste is high on the political agenda. This study will analyze and discuss why biogas production has become the politically prioritized management method for food waste in Sweden, ahead of other alternatives such as donation to people in need. This study shows that biogas is the preferred alternative because food losses are framed as a waste issue, evaluated from an environmental and economic perspective. However, if food losses had been evaluated from a social perspective, and consideration given to the potential of food waste to address food insecurity, the evaluations could well have resulted in other priorities. In practice, there is no conflict between donation and anaerobic digestion of food waste. The edible food waste can be donated, while the inedible waste can be recycled. However, such an approach would require different ambitions and policies, which would bring actors together and ultimately improve the conditions for food donations and people living in food insecurity.
Food waste is a global sustainability issue that demands several stakeholders to participate in solving it. This article examines how different food system stakeholders are held responsible in the policy debate related to food waste reduction. The study adopts a framing approach, paying attention to the construction and negotiation of what is going on in the food waste related public policy debate. The data consist of documents generated as a result of food policy development processes in Finland. The authors identify four framings: eco-efficiency, solidarity, safety and appreciation. Within each framing, the issue of food waste is presented differently, and different stakeholders are responsibilized. The framings reveal the nature of food waste as a boundary object, a flexible and open-ended object that gains different context-dependent meanings. The study extends marketing literature on responsibilization by investigating several stakeholders besides consumers. Additionally, considering food waste as a boundary object unravels how stakeholders, even those with conflicting interests, can debate policy measures collaboratively. Finally, the authors outline policy implications related to each framing.
Without a great food system transformation, the world will fail to deliver both on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. There are five grand challenges to be faced, by science and society, to effect that transformation.
The European Union is working towards reducing food waste by 30% by 2025. A pyramid of priorities to manage the food waste reduction is set by the Directive 2008/98/EC, where prevention is the first action to be implemented by the Member States. The objective of this paper is to identify the main trajectories followed so far by scientific research and two national laws against food waste, namely the Italian and the French laws. To do so, the two regulations are compared by analyzing and classifying each single measure according to the FUSIONS approach. Results are discussed with reference to the priorities expressed in the food waste pyramid. So far, it seems that the two national laws took a different direction, limiting the prevention activities to communication campaign addressed to final consumers and focusing on re-use and recovery especially at the final stages of the supply chain. Academic research shows a dominant focus on energy recovery and recycling.
This paper quantifies bread waste throughout the Swedish supply chain and investigates the loss rate of prepackaged bread products at the supplier-retailer interface. The goal is to understand the extent of bread waste in Sweden and to identify risk factors for high quantities of waste at the supplier-retailer interface, in order to provide information supporting waste prevention measures. The study uses primary data, in combination with national statistics and data from sustainability reports and the literature. Primary data were collected from 380 stores of a Swedish retail company and a bakery. Bread waste was calculated to be 80 410 tons/year in Sweden, the equivalent of 8.1 kg per person/year, and was found to be concentrated at households and in retail, specifically at the supplier-retailer interface. The results provide evidence that take-back agreements between suppliers and retailers, where the retailer only pays for sold products and the supplier bears the cost of the unsold products and their collection and treatment, are risk factors for high waste generation. Current business models may need to be changed to achieve a more sustainable bread supply chain with less waste.
The retail sector, generating large amounts of food waste in a limited and well-defined number of locations, represents a unique opportunity for the implementation of waste minimisation policies targeting food waste and surplus food. France has introduced policy measures forcing retailers to prioritise the redistribution of surplus food to charity (donation) and/or diversion to animal feed. To evaluate the environmental benefits from such initiatives, this study provides a bottom-up consequential life cycle assessment of surplus food management at twenty retail outlets in France. A cradle-to-grave assessment was performed, including land-use changes, and the impacts were evaluated for ten impact categories. Four scenarios were considered, using monthly data on waste flows and management. Alongside assessing the current management (i.e. redistribution and/or use of surplus food for animal feed with anaerobic digestion and incineration of residual streams), three additional scenarios were evaluated: (i) prevention (used as benchmark), (ii) anaerobic digestion and (iii) incineration. The results demonstrated that redistribution leads to substantial environmental savings when accounting for all potentially induced benefits, second only to prevention but nevertheless of similar magnitude. Neither anaerobic digestion nor incineration can compete environmentally with redistribution and use as animal feed, especially in a low-carbon energy system. A cost analysis, including tax credits implemented in the French regulation, demonstrated that retailers donating high-value products also achieved lower costs and higher environmental savings overall. The results clearly suggest that similar initiatives should be encouraged, and the study offers a consistent basis for evaluating similar initiatives also for other countries.
Trading practices such as the take-back agreement (TBA) can become a tool for retailers to exert coercive power over suppliers when market concentration is high. We explore the implications of TBAs for the Swedish bread industry using unique company data from a premium bread supplier and find that powerful buyers over-order and, thereby, waste. This supplier faced 30% returns on total volume produced in the period 2011-2015 and had to bear the entire cost of bread rejections, collection and disposal. It received payment only for bread sold to end-customers, not the quantity supplied. To our knowledge, this is first time there is substantial evidence of the negative consequences such trading practices lead to with respect to waste. The EU has been considering banning the practices of 'forcing the supplier to pay for wasted product' and 'a buyer returning unsold food products to the supplier'. However, such behaviour is very difficult to prove, given that suppliers-buyers are either tied up with bilateral confidential contracts or operate under relational norms. Yet, TBAs are common in certain food supply chains, presenting a global challenge for prevention of food waste and requiring deeper policy engagement .
Food waste occurs throughout the entire food supply chain, from production to consumption of food in households. Retailers are in a unique position to contribute to food waste avoidance, not only by minimizing the amount of waste in their distribution channels but also by influencing consumer attitudes and behaviors. This explorative study aims to identify which food waste avoidance actions are conducted by retailers in Denmark, to which extent, and how they vary across food categories and supermarket chain. Based on an analysis of secondary and empirical data collected via observations at retail stores, the authors identify 22 food waste avoidance actions in Danish retail. The results provide new insights into food waste avoidance in retail. Based on the findings, suggestions for further research directions are developed that should serve to identify the most efficient customer targeted actions in the in-store setting and marketing of suboptimal foods.
Food waste must be minimised to make food supply chains sustainable. This is especially relevant since food waste valorisation measures, such as energy recovery, have limited possibilities to fully recover the resources invested in food production. However, waste minimisation is costly when it includes new infrastructure or technology. Policy measures, on the other hand, can provide a low-cost option. Food rejection practices in supermarkets, such as take-back agreements (TBA), have long been identified as risk factors for food waste generation at the supplier-retailer interface, but given the relational, and often discreet, nature of these agreements, there is little evidence of their impact. In this study we provide, concrete evidence of different rejection practices. This is done by studying three types of food chains – those for bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, and milk – with different rejection practices in Sweden. Based on a combination of primary company information and stakeholder interviews, we found that a full TBA is in operation for bread. The retailer only pays for bread that is sold and any bread left unsold three days before the best-before date is returned to the supplier. For fresh fruit and vegetables, only goods of ‘inadequate’ quality are returned, but supermarkets have sole rights of determination on quality, posing a risk of categorising unsold fruit and vegetables as inadequate quality and returning them to suppliers. In the case of milk, suppliers take back unsold items, but only for waste management. The trend found in this study was that bread had the highest waste, and the most extensive take-back policy. Fresh fruit and vegetables had medium levels of waste, partly due to unverified rejections, while milk had a very low level of waste combined with an even lower level of rejections. It can be concluded that a food supply chain system where the direct costs of waste management or incentives for waste reduction are separated from the organisation responsible for generating the waste poses a significant risk factor in food waste generation and is therefore a potential hotspot for waste-reducing measures.
In this study, we used LCA to test the influence of practicing low-input farming, on-farm processing and direct distribution on the environmental impact of bread consumption. Primary data were collected from four commercially active producers (two in France, one in Italy and one in Portugal) who cultivate cereals under low levels of inputs, process grains on farm and distribute their products directly to end consumers. Environmental impacts of products were compared to equivalents from supermarkets, characterised by higher rates of applied inputs at the agricultural stage, industrial processing and centralised distribution. The scope of LCA was from cradle to the consumer. The study revealed a high variability of results between individual cases. At the agricultural stage, products from a low-input cropping system integrated with livestock production in France and from a small-scale labour intensive production in Portugal showed similar or better performance on most impact categories to those from high-input agriculture, while horse farming in France and a stockless cultivation of ancient wheat cultivars in Italy revealed mostly higher environmental burdens. Decentralised processing and distribution in France had similar or slightly higher impacts to conventional supply chains, while Italian and Portuguese cases revealed clearly higher environmental burdens for most impact categories. Results demonstrate that while there might be a positive relationship between the scale and eco-efficiency of processing and distribution, the level of agricultural inputs, yields and transport distances cannot be used as proxies of environmental performance. Products of low-input systems can have much higher, similar or lower impacts to their high-input counterparts due to the influence of site conditions and the management. More research assessing the effectiveness of context-specific management systems is needed as oppose to the generic comparisons between labelling schemes (i.e. organic and conventional farming).
The unprecedented scale of food waste in global food supply chains is attracting increasing
attention due to its environmental, social and economic impacts. From a climate change
perspective, the food sector is thought to be the cause of 22 per cent of the global warming
potential in the EU. 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 growing 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 global food supply chain, and propose a framework to identify and
prioritize the most appropriate options for the 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 the food waste issue. 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.
Food and drink waste is a significant problem for economic, environmental and food security reasons. Government efforts have focused on diverting waste away from landfill through regulation, taxation and public awareness. However, efforts to understand why waste occurs have been limited, particularly in the interface between retailers and suppliers. This research aims to address this problem by identifying the main root causes of waste in the supplier–retailer interface.The research is exploratory in nature as there is a paucity of studies focusing on food waste across the supply chain. Data were collected through 43 interviews with managers in food manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing in two countries: the UK (24) and Spain (19). Data from the interviews and supplementary documentation were analyzed using causal maps. This approach helped to identify the main root causes of waste which were categorized into three groups: (1) mega-trends in the marketplace, (2) natural causes related to the products and processes, and (3) management root causes on which practitioners have a direct impact.The paper discusses the root causes of food waste and good practices identified from the interviews. Differences between the UK and Spain are discussed, presenting potential learning opportunities for practitioners in these countries and highlighting opportunities for further research.
Background, aim, and scope: The aim of this study has been to estimate the carbon footprint of bread produced and consumed in the UK. Sliced white and wholemeal bread has been considered for these purposes and the functional unit is defined as "one loaf of sliced bread (800 g) consumed at home". The influence on the carbon footprint of several parameters has been analysed, including country of origin of wheat (UK, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and USA), type of flour (white, brown and wholemeal) and type of packaging (plastic and paper bags). The effect on the results of the type of data (primary and secondary) has also been considered. Materials and methods: The carbon footprint has been estimated in accordance with the PAS 2050 methodology. The results have also been calculated following the ISO 14044 methodology to identify any differences in the two approaches and the results. Primary data for the PAS 2050-compliant study have been collected from a UK bread supply chain. Secondary data have been sourced from the UK statistics, life cycle inventory databases and other published sources. Results and discussion: The carbon footprint results range from 977 to 1,244 g CO2 eq. per loaf of bread. Wholemeal thick-sliced bread packaged in plastic bags has the lowest carbon footprint and white medium-sliced bread in paper bag the highest. The main hot spots are wheat cultivation and consumption of bread (refrigerated storage and toasting), contributing 35% and 25% to the total, respectively. Conclusions: The carbon footprint could be reduced on average by 25% by avoiding toasting and refrigerated storage of bread. Further reductions (5-10%) could be achieved by reducing the amount of waste bread discarded by consumers. The contribution of transport and packaging to the overall results is small. Similar trends in the results are also found in the study based on the secondary data and following the ISO 14044 methodology.
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Mapping the Climate Impact of Rye Bread Production in Sweden: Insights into Cultivation, Packaging, and Surplus Management for Sustainable Food Systems
- S Hildersten
- L Bartek
- P Brancoli
- M Eriksson
- H Potter
- I Strid