What to Do with Food Waste? A Holistic Feasibility Framework to Evaluate Different Solutions

Abstract

Food waste is generated at several stages of the food chain. According to the European Waste Hierarchy, the creation of food waste should above all be prevented, meaning that waste materials with good microbial and nutritional quality should be directed to food use, either directly or through light processing. However, to be feasible, food waste utilisation solutions should be economically profitable, environmentally sustainable and scalable to provide a means to utilise a larger share of the raw materials. In this study, we propose a feasibility evaluation approach for food waste utilisation and prevention solutions. We use two case examples: (1) an artisan bar soap product based on carrot peels, and (2) the retail selling of 2nd class carrots. Both cases are evaluated with six feasibility indicators: edible food waste reduction potential, scalability, level at waste hierarchy, climate impact reduction potential, economic impact, and social impact. Case 2 performed better regarding all indicators other than economic impact. Critical aspects that need to be improved included climate reduction potential for both cases and food waste reduction potential for case 1. The results show that this kind of a holistic approach is useful in identifying the most feasible food waste prevention and utilisation measures.