IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceps/v101y2025ics0038012125001405.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic and environmental benefits of improving production efficiency in eco-feed plants: A case study from Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Tsuru, Junji
  • Ushijima, Daigo
  • Nakaishi, Tomoaki
  • Kagawa, Shigemi

Abstract

This study analyzed the production efficiency of 45 eco-feed plants in Japan—28 using the dry method, 11 with the liquid method, and six using the fermentation method—through data envelopment analysis (DEA). Inputs included annual food waste and maintenance costs, while the output was annual eco-feed production. The results revealed average production efficiency scores of 0.436 (dry), 0.491 (liquid), and 0.469 (fermentation). Improving efficiency could significantly boost eco-feed production. The primary source of inefficiency was identified as pure technical efficiency (PTE), which highlighted disparities in production technologies among plants. By improving inefficiencies, the sales increase potential (SIP), which refers to the potential annual economic savings were estimated to be 4 billion JPY, while greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by approximately 35,000 t-CO2. Scaling up production was recommended for plants with scale inefficiencies (SE)—particularly those under increasing returns to scale (IRS). Policy measures, including linking food-related industries to eco-feed plants, were proposed to facilitate this. Additionally, identifying reference plants for inefficient facilities was emphasized to enhance PTE. To support this, the government should enable plant managers to visit reference plants and improve waste management systems—particularly for the dry method—by requiring food companies to better sort waste. These measures aim to improve both economic and environmental outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsuru, Junji & Ushijima, Daigo & Nakaishi, Tomoaki & Kagawa, Shigemi, 2025. "Economic and environmental benefits of improving production efficiency in eco-feed plants: A case study from Japan," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:101:y:2025:i:c:s0038012125001405
    DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2025.102291
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038012125001405
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.seps.2025.102291?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:101:y:2025:i:c:s0038012125001405. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/seps .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.