Bergström, Pauline
- Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article2020Peer reviewedOpen access
Bergström, Pauline; Malefors, Christopher; Strid, Ingrid; Hanssen, Ole Jørgen; Eriksson, Mattias
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 CO2eq./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.
sustainable development; food waste; life cycle assessment; environment; society; economy
Resources
2020, Volume: 9, number: 3, article number: 27
SDG1 No poverty
SDG2 Zero hunger
SDG8 Decent work and economic growth
SDG12 Responsible consumption and production
Environmental Sciences
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9030027
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/104727