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Environmental sustainability assessment of food waste valorization options

Author

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  • Vandermeersch, T.
  • Alvarenga, R.A.F.
  • Ragaert, P.
  • Dewulf, J.

Abstract

Food waste can be valorized through different technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, incineration, and animal feed production. In this study we analyzed the environmental performance of two food waste valorization scenarios from a company of the retail sector in Belgium, through exergy analysis, exergetic life cycle assessment (ELCA), and a traditional life cycle assessment (LCA). In scenario 1 all food waste was considered to be valorized in an anaerobic digestion (producing electricity, heat, digestate and sorting the packaging material to be used as fuel for cement industry), while in scenario 2 a bread fraction was valorized to produce animal feed and a non-bread fraction was valorized in an anaerobic digestion (producing the same products on scenario 1, but in lower amounts). Scenario 2 was 10% more efficient than scenario 1 in the exergy analysis. For the ELCA and the single score LCA, scenario 2 presented lower environmental impacts than scenario 1 (32% and 26% lower, respectively). These results were mainly due to the avoided products from traditional supply chain (animal feed produced from agricultural products) and lower exergy loss at the feed production plant. Nevertheless, the high dry matter content of the bread waste played an important role on these results, therefore it should be pointed out that valorizing food waste to animal feed seems to be a better option only for the fractions of food waste with low water content (as bread waste).

Suggested Citation

  • Vandermeersch, T. & Alvarenga, R.A.F. & Ragaert, P. & Dewulf, J., 2014. "Environmental sustainability assessment of food waste valorization options," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 57-64.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:87:y:2014:i:c:p:57-64
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.03.008
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    1. Cherubini, Francesco & Bargigli, Silvia & Ulgiati, Sergio, 2009. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) of waste management strategies: Landfilling, sorting plant and incineration," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(12), pages 2116-2123.
    2. Mena, Carlos & Adenso-Diaz, B. & Yurt, Oznur, 2011. "The causes of food waste in the supplier–retailer interface: Evidences from the UK and Spain," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 648-658.
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    1. Ludovica Principato & Alessio Leo & Giovanni Mattia & Carlo Alberto Pratesi, 2021. "The next step in sustainable dining: the restaurant food waste map for the management of food waste," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2021(3), pages 189-207, September.
    2. Mengistu, Genet & McAllister, Tim & Fulawka, Deanne & Aboagye, Isaac & Legesse, Getahun & Stanford, Kim & Cordeiro, Marcos & Gunte, Kebebe & Omonijo, Faith & Wittenberg, Karin & Ominski, Kim, 2025. "Can using food waste as feed reduce the environmental footprint of Canadian beef production? A case study of cull potatoes," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    3. Eriksson, Mattias & Ghosh, Ranjan & Mattsson, Lisa & Ismatov, Alisher, 2017. "Take-back agreements in the perspective of food waste generation at the supplier-retailer interface," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 83-93.
    4. Jones, R.E. & Speight, R.E. & Blinco, J.L. & O'Hara, I.M., 2022. "Biorefining within food loss and waste frameworks: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    5. Ferrazzi, Giovanni & Ventura, Vera & Balzaretti, Claudia Maria & Castrica, Marta, 2019. "Exploring the Landscape of Innovative “from Food to Feed” Strategies: A Review," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 10(03), July.
    6. repec:plo:pone00:0196288 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Ludovica Principato & Stefano Marchetti & Marco Barbanera & Luca Ruini & Leonardo Capoccia & Camilla Comis & Luca Secondi, 2023. "Introducing digital tools for sustainable food supply management: Tackling food loss and waste in industrial canteens," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(4), pages 1060-1075, August.
    8. Soltanian, Salman & Kalogirou, Soteris A. & Ranjbari, Meisam & Amiri, Hamid & Mahian, Omid & Khoshnevisan, Benyamin & Jafary, Tahereh & Nizami, Abdul-Sattar & Gupta, Vijai Kumar & Aghaei, Siavash & Pe, 2022. "Exergetic sustainability analysis of municipal solid waste treatment systems: A systematic critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    9. Daniel Hoehn & María Margallo & Jara Laso & Ana Fernández-Ríos & Israel Ruiz-Salmón & Rubén Aldaco, 2022. "Energy Systems in the Food Supply Chain and in the Food Loss and Waste Valorization Processes: A Systematic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, March.
    10. Arias, Ana & Feijoo, Gumersindo & Moreira, Maria Teresa & Tukker, Arnold & Cucurachi, Stefano, 2025. "Advancing waste valorization and end-of-life strategies in the bioeconomy through multi-criteria approaches and the safe and sustainable by design framework," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).

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