Food Security and Public Health Leverage in the Design of a Sustainable Multi-objective Food Waste Network

Abstract

In this paper, food waste treatment alternatives are evaluated from a sustainability point of view. Using food waste characteristics as input data, we estimated the sustainable benefits such as food security, reduced human toxicity, energy utilization, and GHG emission reduction for each potential food waste processing technique. Additionally, the sustainable benefits of the closed-loop food waste network are quantified based upon geographic distance and treatment option characteristics. We formulated the food waste network framework as a strategic weighted goal programming model that aimed to minimize total costs and impact on public health while maximizing nutrition value and satisfying emissions and energy use constraints. We tested the efficiency of the proposed framework by designing a sustainable food waste treatment network for the state of Massachusetts, USA. Results showed that with a marginal increase in the treatment cost of food waste, the model has achieved zero net emissions, zero net energy use, and a competitive overall sustainability impact. Thus, by utilizing the food waste network model, policymakers can achieve the best sustainable strategies for food waste management. This study contributed to the assessment of the food waste recovery alternatives by expanding the system boundary and presenting additional key performance measures of sustainability.