New Policy Think Piece Report: A tool in the tookit for reducing food loss and waste

Link to the full report at the bottom of this page

A tool in the toolkit” report is a policy think piece that explores the use of a method for considering all costs associated with the production and consumption of food that are otherwise is overlooked. These overlooked costs cause outside actors to pay these costs through environmental, social or economic impact. We investigate the use of 'True Cost Accounting' and its use throughout the supply chain to help reduce food loss and waste and for the unification of a currently siloed food system, especially towards the significant emissions that are caused from food loss and waste. The implications of accounting for these external costs should drive better decision making from all sectors of the food system. Consideration for better welfare, human health and planetary health should drive a fairer and more accessible world on everyone’s dinner plate.

Executive Summary:

"Food loss and waste (FLW) is a global economic, environmental, and ethical problem which has been specifically targeted within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); goal 12.3 aims to “halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level, and reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030”. While most efforts to decrease FLW focus on the individual consumer or householder, FLW is generated at all points throughout the food system, including production, processing, distribution and consumption. Since FLW is exacerbated by long and complex supply chains with many different stakeholders throughout the food system, efforts to decrease it must engage with all stakeholders and all of their impacts on FLW, rather than simply focussing on individual stakeholders or processes. Key findings Barriers to reducing food waste at the household level include a lack of time, knowledge and skills for purchasing and preparing food. Use-by dates on packaging and large portion sizes exacerbated this issue. Almost unlimited accessibility to inexpensive, globally produced food disconnects consumers from the true value and impact of their food, and the value lost when wasting it. The barriers to food loss from producers and suppliers, include large, complex supply chains resulting in overproduction and overstocking. Unavoidable waste, as well as spoiled or damaged food is usually sent to landfill, due to current regulations on repurposing FLW. Collaboration across the food system was demonstrated to be a vital solution in reducing FLW as responsibility for food waste is frequently passed between stakeholders and no single actor is held responsible for FLW, although FLW is most frequently measured at the end of the supply chain. To encourage a collaborative approach, changes to supplierretailer contracts, shorter, localised supply chains, closed-loop systems and communal storage facilities within food systems are discussed. Benefits and opportunities of TCA included providing a wider system-level and collaborative perspective for decision makers and using TCA as a tool within a toolkit of other initiatives to reduce FLW. TCA could aid the co-production of policies between policy-makers and other stakeholders, making them more widely accepted and effective. Challenges of TCA included the complexity and impracticality of applying TCA to the complex food system and how TCA metrics would be accurately measured, collated, and analysed across the many processes involved within the food system. Executive summary In this think-piece, True Cost Accounting (TCA), a method for measuring and quantifying the true social, economic, and environmental impacts of different food production systems, was explored to assess how it could help to overcome siloed thinking and support collaborative efforts to reduce FLW throughout the whole food system. To do this, a literature review was conducted, followed by a series of focus groups leading to the formation of 6 policy recommendations that could support stakeholder collaboration across the food system to reduce FLW." (Bonfert, Burke et al 2022 )

Authors:

Bernd Bonfert (Cardiff University)

Miranda Burke (Lancaster University)

Aoife Caffrey (Ulster University)

Siobhan Maderson (Aberystwyth University)

Amy Molotoks (Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York)

Justine Pearce (Royal Veterinary College)

Mehroosh Tak (Royal Veterinary College)

To read the full report click below:

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This report should be cited as: Bonfert B., Burke M., Caffrey A., Maderson S., Molotoks A., Pearce J. and Tak M. (2021) A tool in the toolkit: can true cost accounting remove siloed thinking about food loss and waste? Report produced for the Global Food Security Programme. November 2021.

Available online at www.foodsecurity.ac.uk/publications

The findings of this report originate from a Global Food Security Policy Lab, and do not necessarily reflect the policy positions or views of GFS or its individual partners.