From trash to treasure

Abstract

Food loss and waste (FLW) generation is a global issue that has recently gained an increasing attention. It has previously been estimated that approximately one third of all food globally produced is wasted. Recently, other accounts have been made, for various food products and focusing on various geographical scopes, sometimes disaggregating between various qualities of FLW, but none was found to quantify FLW per quality at the global level. This would be a pertinent addition to the ongoing research, as the type of treatment (or valorisation) possible is dependent on the type of FLW, and this would be of great relevance in the global actions towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 aiming at the reduction of food loss and food waste globally by halve by 2030. Additionally, recent literature focuses on avoidable FLW or does not separate between avoidable and unavoidable, although it is essential to address unavoidable FLW on its own as by its nature it cannot simply be prevented and its generation should thus be appropriately managed. Therefore, this thesis project aimed at answering how much food is currently being lost and wasted regarding fruits and vegetables at the global level and how it can be valorised. In the first part of the research, a Material Flow Analysis (MFA) was conducted at the global level to quantify unavoidable loss generated at the processing stage and unavoidable waste generated at the retail and consumption stages. The results show that the fruit value chain generates more unavoidable loss and waste than the vegetable value chain and that the retail and consumption stages generate more unavoidable waste than the processing stage of unavoidable loss. Additionally, regional hotspots were identified. In the second part of the research, an assessment of the valorisation pathways is conducted on the category of loss and waste streams identified as the most problematic by the MFA results, which was fruit and vegetable peel. The valorisation assessment was conducted following the concept of the FLW management hierarchy, which ranks the various end-of-life (EoL) treatments by prioritizing the most environmental-friendly and resource-efficient ones. In this study, the potential of fruit and vegetable peel loss and waste for reuse in food and feed, for the production of biobased materials, biofertilizers as well as biofuels was explored and quantified. The results suggest that an optimal FLW management system should be an adequate mix of various valorisation pathways. In regard to the SDG 12.3, efforts should aim on the one hand at preventing FLWthat can be avoided and on the other hand at valorising FLW that cannot be avoided.