Sustainable food surplus & waste
management and the circular
economy
Effie Papargyropoulou
University of Leeds, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
HENVI SCIENCE DAY
Towards Circular Economy –
Designing a Sustainable Food Cycle
21st April 2015, University of Helsinki
Source: Tristram Stuart (2009) Waste: Uncovering the global food
Source: Tristram Stuart (2009) Waste: Uncovering the global food scandal
Source: Tristram Stuart (2009) Waste: Uncovering the global food
North America &
Europe discard
30 - 50% of food
supplies enough
to feed the world's
hungry 3 times
over
Impacts
• Social
▫ Food security
▫ Ethical issues of food waste & food poverty
• Economic
▫ Loss in productivity, energy, natural resources, disposal
costs
 Global food wastage costs USD750 billion to USD1 trillion
in 2007 (producer vs retail prices) (FAO, 2013)
 Total cost of global food waste > US$2 trillion a year incl
environmental (US$700 billion) & social costs at US$1
trillion
• Environmental
▫ Greenhouse gases (CH4, CO2)
 7% due to food waste
▫ Pollution (air, rivers, groundwater, soil)
▫ Limited natural resources
Prevention
Re-use
Recycle
Recovery
Disposal
• Avoid surplus food
generation throughout FSC
• Prevent avoidable food
waste generation
throughout FSC
• Re-use surplus food for human
consumption for people affected by
food poverty, through redistribution
networks and food banks
• Recycle food waste into animal feed
• Recycle food waste via composting
• Treat unavoidable food waste and recover energy:
e.g. via anaerobic digestion
• Dispose unavoidable food waste into engineered landfill
with landfill gas utilisation system in place, only as the last
option
Re-use for
human
consumption
Prevention
Avoidable
food waste
Animal feed
Recycling
Composting
Food waste
Animal feed
Recycling
Composting
Unavoidable
food waste
Energy
recovery
Disposal
Anaerobic
Digestion
Least Favourable Option
Unfit for human
consumption
Surplus becomes waste
when it becomes inedible
Fit for human
consumption
Food Surplus
Most Favourable Option
Prevention
Prevention potential
• Reducing food waste by 50% between 2012 &
2020 = annual savings of €192 per person
(US$270) or a saving of €94.4 billion (US$130
billion) for the EU as a whole (Rutten et al 2013)
• Avoidable household food waste reduced by 21%
over 5 years (WRAP, 2013)
▫ retail value £3.3 billion (US$5.3 billion) in 2012
▫ 4.4 million tonnes of GHG/yr= 1.8 million cars off
UK roads
▫ billion tonnes of water
Households
• Love Food Hate
Waste
▫ changes in
behaviour &
reductions in food
waste (ca 15% of
total household
food waste)
▫ for every £1
invested up to £8
was saved (WRAP
2013)
Visit: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
Courtauld Commitment - Retailers
• Voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency
& reducing the carbon & environmental impact of the grocery
retail sector
• food & packaging waste in grocery supply chain reduced by
7.4% over 3 years (WRAP 2013)
▫ net benefit > £1.2 billion (US $1.9 billion) for
household food waste
▫ £230 million (US $370 million) for supply chain
waste (WRAP, DEFRA 2013)
▫ low-cost solutions, changes to processes,
procedures, interactions between people &
organisations.
National Industrial Symbiosis Programme
• Non profit programme: brings together
industries for resource efficiency &
sustainability
• Case Study: Seafood
supplier recycles
redundant stock of
breadcrumbs into
supplement to dog biscuits
• http://www.nisp.org.uk
Hospitality sector
Too Good to Waste Campaign
http://www.thesra.org/
SRA tool kit
• Waste audit: how much food waste,
where, when, what kind of waste is
produced
• Advice for reducing avoidable food
waste & disposing responsibly of
unavoidable food waste
HaFS
• 5% prevention by 2015 (bsl 2012)
• 70% recycling, composting or AD by
2015
Food Cycle
• Food redistribution & reuse
• http://www.foodcycle.org.uk/
Global initiatives
• UNEP, FAO campaign
• Waste prevention tool kit
• http://thinkeatsave.org/
Thank you
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