Assessment of Food Waste Reduction Strategies

Abstract

Food and agricultural wastes and losses have been identified as major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, natural resource consumption, and land use change. 2 According to the UN Environment Report Waste Not, Want Not “food loss refers to food leakages at upstream stages of the food supply chain such as in food production and processing, while food waste refers to discarded food at the downstream stages of the supply chain — in distribution, retail, food service and households.” 3 Global food loss and waste have a carbon footprint of approximately 4.4 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2 e) per year, meaning if food waste were a country, it would rank as the third top emitter after the United States and China. 4 While greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions occur across the food supply chain (and vary by commodity), the majority of GHGs are emitted in the production and growing phase. 5 Beyond emissions, the USDA Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) estimates food loss value exceeds $161 billion (2010 USD) annually and consumes over 21% of all freshwater use.6, 7 The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates landfilled food is the second highest material (behind paper and paperboard) constituting ~22% of discarded municipal solid waste. Notably, landfills have been identified as the third largest source of human-related, potent methane emissions in the US. 8 Food waste and loss occur across the value chain. In the US, the largest amount of food organics enter the waste stream directly from consumer homes (30M tons). 9 Consumer-facing businesses, including university dining foodservice operations, generate the second-largest amount of food waste (23M tons). Therefore, this sector has the incredible potential to influence broad, positive impact through systemic changes and application of targeted, strategic interventions. Of particular note to this report, cross-institutional collaboration such as NACUFS (National Association of College and University Food Services)10 and reporting frameworks such AASHE STARS (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education)11 have catalyzed food waste awareness and reduction in the higher education space. Many institutions have already implemented strategies, created policies, and engaged students over the past decade. Knowing university dining programs have a critical role to play in the foodservice ecosystem based on their scale and ability to directly interact and educate their consumers (students), the objective of this report is to build upon existing literature and initiatives to assist institutions as they further refine their approach to implementing food waste reduction solutions. This report outlines 21 food waste reduction strategies (called interventions in this report), selected from a robust literature review, ReFED Insights Engine, and expert and practitioner interviews. Each intervention was given a score of Favorable, Medium, or Unfavorable across these 7 attributes: economic, labor, political, environmental, food waste reduction, spatial, and time horizon.