Losses in the supply chain of Swedish lettuce – wasted amounts and their carbon footprint at primary production, whole sale and retail

Abstract

The waste flow of Swedish iceberg lettuce was followed through the value chain from field to retail shelf. The study also included estimations of the carbon footprint of the waste at the different stages. At the farm level 3 tons of high quality lettuce heads were wasted per ha and year (compared to 19 tons harvested), corresponding to ca 1100 tons CO2-e per year at a national level. Ca 50% of the lettuce sold in Swedish retail stores is domestically produced and 50% imported. The carbon footprint of the wasted Swedish iceberg lettuce at retail level was estimated to 1500 tons CO2-e per year at a national level. The conclusion was that the losses at the retail stage were of higher importance than the losses occurring during primary production for the lettuce supply chain, and that measures therefore should be targeted primarily to the retail sector.

Published in

Title: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector
Publisher: American Center for Life Cycle Assessment

Conference

9th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector

SLU Authors

• Strid, Ingrid

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Eriksson, Mattias

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Management

Publication identifier

• ISBN: 978-0-9882145-7-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/69099