Exploring the pathways towards the mitigation of the environmental impacts of food consumption.

Agriculture constitutes a quarter and more than a third of Denmark's global greenhouses gas (GHG) emissions and natural resource consumption, respectively. This paper aims to estimate the potential to lower Denmark's global food-related GHG, blue water and land footprints using the most recent version of a hybrid global multi-regional input-output (MRIO) database, EXIOBASE of the reference year, 2011. Specifically, we apply the 'what if' scenario-based MRIO approach to EXIOBASE and quantify the impact of increased livestock feed efficiency (FE), dietary changes, food loss and waste (FLW) reduction/prevention and food waste treatment scenarios on Denmark's global food-related GHG and resource footprints. We obtain modest reductions in Denmark's global food-related GHG, blue water and cropland footprint from the combination of livestock FE improvements and FLW reduction; 61 kt CO2e, 2 Mm3 and 30 kha, respectively. In contrast, dietary change towards no/less meat and dairy diets embodies the most significant reductions potential for Denmark's total global food-related GHG, blue water, croplands and grassland footprint by up to 34% (3.63 Mt. CO2e), 8% (90 Mm3), 23% (371 kha) and 78% (386 kha) respectively. A key policy priority should therefore be the nudging of Danish consumers towards sustainable diets. Also, this study's findings emphasise that FLW prevention remains the most effective food waste-related climate mitigation and resource efficiency strategy despite the benefits of food waste valorisation.

Regional waste footprint and waste treatments analysis.

This paper provides a detailed analysis of the waste footprint and waste treatments at subnational level, for Brussels, Flanders, and Wallonia. The paper details the waste footprint components into direct waste from households (disposed in bins), indirect waste generated upstream in the supply chains and induced by household consumption and waste materials from the degradation of in-use stocks. For each component, we analysed the contribution of waste types, products consumed and location where the waste was generated, as well as the associated treatments. The results show that Flanders had the highest total waste footprint in absolute terms; Brussels the highest direct waste in capita terms and Wallonia the highest indirect waste and stock depletion in capita terms. In each region, almost 78 ± 2% of the regional waste footprints were attributed to the consumption of food products, manufactured products and restaurants and accommodation services. For each region, around 45 ± 4% of the indirect waste was generated within its boundaries, 16 ± 9% in other regions and 39 ± 5% out of Belgium. Incineration was the predominant waste treatment type of the regional waste footprint, followed by recycling. Landfill was the second widely applied treatment for indirect waste. Results constitute key information relevant to enhance the waste data monitoring practices at regional level with effects at national level. We unveiled the waste footprint and associated treatments inherent to the interregional and international linkages. Results are also useful resources to substantiate waste management and circular economy policies, enacting on waste prevention and reduction, ecodesign and product lifetime extension.

Urban waste flows and their potential for a circular economy model at city-region level.

To enable cities to become more circular, i.e. close material cycles, decision-makers need detailed data about the production and treatment of waste. At city level, conventional statistics on waste are often incomplete or lack detail. Waste input-output accounting offers an alternative, using waste supply and use tables to create detailed inventories of economy-wide flows of waste. In this study we develop such tables for the city-region of Brussels (Belgium) and use them to analyse the urban waste metabolism in terms of waste flows, waste production intensity and waste treatment performance. The waste flow analysis revealed: the amount of collected waste; the proportion contributed by individual sectors; the material composition of waste flows and the location of treatment. Currently, around 50% of the 1.5 million tons of waste collected in Brussels is treated in local facilities. However, less than 1% of the collected waste is used in a way that closes material cycles within city limits. The waste performance analysis reveals that the construction sector had the highest waste production intensity and the household sector the highest incineration intensity. In terms of waste prevention and local valorisation potential, we identified flows and sectors for future targeting, one of the most promising being food waste. We conclude that the urban context can restrict the local valorisation of waste flows, thus we see the role of cities such as Brussels in a circular economy as mainly contributing to the closing of material cycles at national or even global level.