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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - REFRESH (Resource Efficient Food and dRink for the Entire Supply cHain)

Teaser

Summary

An estimated 89 million tonnes of food goes to waste in European (EU) countries each year (FUSIONS 2016), and modelling suggests this could increase to over 120 million tonnes by 2020. Food waste contributes heavily to global carbon emissions, with carbon emissions associated with the production and waste of food being equivalent to the third largest carbon emitting country after USA and China (FAO 2013).
Food waste is ethically unjustifiable in a world where almost 1 billion people remain undernourished. Reducing food waste throughout the food supply chain is a key mechanism by which a sustainable food system can be created. This brings economic, social and environmental benefits. The European Commission has prioritized Food waste reduction in its Circular Economy Package (Dec. 2015).
REFRESH overarching aim is to prevent and reduce avoidable food waste across the full supply chain and to optimise the utilisation of resources within the food system and valorisation of residual waste flows including packaging.

Work performed

WP1: Based on the research framework, a large cross-country survey was implemented, testing the impact of consumer motivation, abilities and opportunity factors on Household practices and amounts of discarded food. The survey was preceded by 2 pilot studies to construct the measurement scales. A qualitative study was performed on the use of ICT-based tools for food management and waste prevention at consumer level by means of a focus group study in NL. The influence of on-pack information on behavioural intentions and usefulness from the consumer perspective was studied via a viral survey in the 4 piloting countries. Finally, the results of the social experiment study in Spain on consumer acceptance of by-product valorisation for (in)direct human consumption became available in final draft. WP2: In support of the PWPs in NL, HU, ES and GE, the FA agreements were finalised and the first evaluation of the processes and development of the PWPs was created. In all four PWPs, action-based innovation projects have commenced in support of the goals of the FA. Replication of the FA and PWP approach with the Chinese partners have continued and able to attract additional partnerships. The online Community of Experts (www.refreshcoe.eu) was launched as a tool to share knowledge and expertise from a wide range of stakeholders. The development on DSS tools have shown progress and a Quick scan tool has been developed for retailers based on historical data. The sharing of best practices across PWPs has taken place supporting a wider uptake, and a first draft of the blueprint approach for replicating the FA approach has been tested. WP3: The first deliverable on the systems maps and analytical frameworks (D3.1) was finalised and published, identifying drivers of food waste across the supply chain in 5 food product categories with high food waste prevalence. Secondly, the deliverable on Policy assessment (D3.2) was published, focusing on Unfair Trading Practice regulation and Voluntary Agreements to understand how power imbalances can influence the food supply chain, and also how and why a VA as policy instrument can be used to tackle food waste across stakeholders. The D3.3 Review on EU policies with relevant impact on food waste prevention and valorisation was published, explaining the relevance of the different policy areas at EU level and identifies the gaps, overlaps and unintended effects of EU regulation and identifies potential opportunities for improvement in each policy area. Three Policy working platforms were organised and four policy briefs were drafted. WP4: An Agency Based Modelling (ABM) was developed on social interactions and consumer food waste, and is now ready to be used for implementing simulations. A Bayesian Network model was developed and tested, as well as a successful integration of ABM and BN modelling that will be used to run simulations and food waste scenarios. The integrated socio-economic model of food waste was completed. WP5: A simplified approach for estimating and comparing different valorisation options was developed as background for the FORKLIFT tool, drafted as a spreadsheet, and populated with data on 5 side flows. Full LCA/LCCs have been carried out for nectarine/peach supply chains in Italy. Other cases include pig feed, the German meat production chain, and tomatoes. WP6: The food waste compositional database FoodWasteExplorer was developed as an open access online resource and populated with over 25,000 data points. Usability testing is currently underway. Seventy-six current valorisation approaches identified for the top 20 list of wastes have been classified into the Waste Hierarchy. On new food ingredients, a model breakfast cereal drink has been successfully formulated using chicory root fibre, and good results have been achieved in consumer acceptance testing. On animal feed, a DST for UK has been developed and made available through the CoE. Contributing to the technical guidelines for feedi

Final results

The main impact areas of REFRSH are:
- Reduction of food waste by consumers;
- Increased donations and re-distribution of food (to people in need) by businesses (from producers â€“ retail);
- Reduction of food waste in retail & groceries sector through better chain management;
- Reduction of food waste in the out-of-home, food service and hospitality sector;
- Conversion of food losses and secondary resources to higher value products (feeds, biobased, ingredients), and
- Reduction of food waste in (post-harvest) supply chain (primary production, transport, processing and manufacturing).

REFRESH succeeded in its first project period to establish the initial inventories and analyses and created through its dissemination efforts a considerable outreach to share knowledge and best practices across European and Chinese stakeholder groups. The expectation is that this impact will be magnified during the 2nd reporting period.