Food waste management during the COVID-19 outbreak: a holistic climate, economic and nutritional approach.

Improving the food supply chain efficiency has been identified as an essential means to enhance food security, while reducing pressure on natural resources. Adequate food loss and waste (FLW) management has been proposed as an approach to meet these objectives. The main hypothesis of this study is to consider that the "strong fluctuations and short-term changes" on eating habits may have major consequences on potential FLW generation and management, as well as on GHG emissions, all taking into account the nutritional and the economic cost. Due to the exceptional lockdown measures imposed by the Spanish government, as a consequence of the emerging coronavirus disease, COVID-19, food production and consumption systems have undergone significant changes, which must be properly studied in order to propose strategies from the lessons learned. Taking Spain as a case study, the methodological approach included a deep analysis of the inputs and outputs of the Spanish food basket, the supply chain by means of a Material Flow Analysis, as well as an economic and comprehensive nutritional assessment, all under a life cycle thinking approach. The results reveal that during the first weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown, there was no significant adjustment in overall FLW generation, but a partial reallocation from extra-domestic consumption to households occurred (12% increase in household FLW). Moreover, the economic impact (+11%), GHG emissions (+10%), and the nutritional content (-8%) complete the multivariable impact profile that the COVID-19 outbreak had on FLW generation and management. Accordingly, this study once again highlights that measures aimed at reducing FLW, particularly in the household sector, are critical to make better use of food surpluses and FLW prevention and control, allowing us to confront future unforeseen scenarios.

Environmental impact assessment of the implementation of a Deposit-Refund System for packaging waste in Spain: A solution or an additional problem?

Food and beverage packaging represent a relevant fraction of municipal solid waste, and its adequate management is critical. Selective waste collection by an authorized organization according to an Extended Producer Responsibility System (EPRS) is the current option implemented in Spain for packaging. Other European countries have selected an alternative or a complement: a Deposit-Refund System (DRS) for certain type of beverage packaging. The selection of an EPRS or a DRS is a complex task and this work developed a universal methodology for the evaluation of optimal waste packaging management systems, focused on food and beverage. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was applied to compare the current EPRS vs the implementation of a new system, with the coexistence of a DRS and a reduced EPRS. Although the environmental savings of the new system are superior to its impacts, even if the DRS would reach a value of 90% for the package return index, the current EPRS obtains significantly better environmental results. All impact categories are favorable to the current EPRS, except ADP, where the potentially higher DRS recycling rate is manifested. The impact associated to the flow of specific DRS packages in the new system is clearly higher than that linked to the flow of DRS excluded packages and it is even higher that the impact of the total joint flow in the current EPRS for all categories except ADP. The fundamental cause of this high impact is the backhauling stage to transport the recovered packages to the counting plants without compacting. A sensitivity analysis confirmed the robustness of the preference of the current EPRS over the combination of a DRS and a reduced EPRS. The developed approach supposes a methodological advance that can be extended to previously realized studies about the implementation of waste management systems in other contexts.

Environmental assessment of food and beverage under a NEXUS Water-Energy-Climate approach: Application to the spirit drinks.

The energy-water nexus is a concept widely established but rarely applied to product and, in particular, to food and beverage products, which have a great influence on greenhouse gases emissions. The proposed method considers the main nexus aspects in addition to other relevant aspects such as climate change, which is deeply linked with energy and water systems, and assessing process as well as product. In this framework, this study develops an integrated index (IWECN) that combines life cycle assessment (LCA) and linear programming (LP) to assess energetic, water and climate systems, enabling the identification of those products with minors energetic and water intensity and climate change effects and helping to the decision-making process and to the development of eco-innovation measures. In this case, the product assessed was one bottle (70 cl) of gin and two main hotspots were identified: the production of the glass bottle and the energy requirements of the distillation stage. Based on that, several eco-innovation strategies were proposed: the use of photovoltaic solar energy as energy source and the substitution of the glass bottle by a plastic one and by a tetra brick. The nexus results indicated that the use of solar photovoltaic energy and plastic as bottle material was the best alternative decreasing 58% the IWECN value of the production of one bottle of gin. The sensitivity analysis presented a strong preference for photovoltaic solar energy in comparison with electric power and for the reduction of the glass bottle weight or its substitution by a plastic bottle. The use of the IWECN index is extendable to any product with the aim of facilitating the decision-making process in the development of more sustainable products to introduce them in new green markets.

Environmental assessment of the food packaging waste management system in Spain: Understanding the present to improve the future.

One-way packaging can represent up to half the environmental impacts of the food value chain and thus optimising its management is essential. Collective selective waste collection managed by authorised organisations (Extended Producer Responsibility, EPR), with or without Deposit-Refund Systems (DRS) are alternatives implemented at European level to handle this problem. Since there is no single simple formula that can be applied to every waste management system, this case study is focused on the entire Spanish model of one-way food packaging waste management, from collection of each fraction in specific containers to final treatment, considering eight different materials. For the analysis, six different impact categories were considered: abiotic depletion potential, global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone depletion potential and photochemical ozone formation. Results reveal that the recycling stage is the main stage contributing to the environmental impacts, but the environmental savings related to the recovery of materials in this stage compensates these loads and the system must be considered advantageous for the environment. By contrast, sorting plants present the lowest contributions and is the least significant stage. Significant environmental improvements (close to 10%) would be achieved by addressing the total bulk collection flow to mechanical-biological treatment and increasing the selective collection of light and glass packaging waste. This study can serve to identify common drivers that contribute significantly to the development of an integrated approach to waste packaging management and as baseline for comparison studies with alternative waste recovery technologies and systems.

Potential formation of PCDD/Fs in triclosan wastewater treatment: An overall toxicity assessment under a life cycle approach.

Wastewater may contain a diverse group of unregulated pollutants known as emerging pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Triclosan (TCS) is a personal care product widely used as an antiseptic or preservative in cosmetics, hand wash, toothpaste and deodorant soaps. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been used as effective and alternative treatments for complex wastewater. However, an important criterion for the assessment of AOPs and their operation conditions could be the potential formation of new toxic secondary products, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), especially when emerging pollutants are present in the media. If these are omitted from environmental management studies, the real environmental impacts of a WWTPs (wastewater treatment plants) may be underestimated. Consequently, the current study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts derived from electrooxidation (EOX), one of the most effective oxidation technologies, of emerging pollutants using Life Cycle Assessment. The analyses were performed for the treatment of effluents containing TCS, firstly without considering the formation of PCDD/Fs and, thereafter, considering the effects of these compounds. Total toxicity, calculated through different methods and corresponding impact factors, were evaluated for each stage of the process when different electrolytes are used, including PCDD/Fs formation. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to study i) the effect of the TCS initial concentration on the environmental impacts associated to ecotoxicity for the different life cycle methods and ii) the influence of changing the organic pollutant on PCDD/Fs formation employing 2-chlorophenol (2-CP). As a result, LCIA methods demonstrate that they are not fully adapted to the computation of PCDD/Fs in the water compartment, since only 2,3,7,8-tetraclorodibenzo-p-dioxina (2,3,7,8-TCDD) is present as a substance in the impact categories assessed, ignoring the remaining list of PCDD/Fs.

Combined application of Life Cycle Assessment and linear programming to evaluate food waste-to-food strategies: Seeking for answers in the nexus approach.

The great concern regarding food loss (FL) has been studied previously, but in an isolated way, disregarding interdependencies with other areas. This paper aims to go a step further by proposing a new procedure to assess different waste management alternatives based on the nexus approach by means of an integrated Water-Energy-Food-Climate Nexus Index (WEFCNI). The environmental profile of the waste management techniques is determined using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) which, in combination with Linear Programming (LP), explores the optimal aggregation of weighting factors that lead to an aggregated nexus index. The management of residues from the anchovy canning industry in Cantabria (Spain) has been used as a case study, considering the three current applied alternatives: (i) valorisation of FL as animal feed in aquaculture (food waste-to-food approach), (ii) incineration of FL with energy recovery, and (iii) landfilling with biogas recovery. The last two considered the use of energy recovered to produce a new aquaculture product (food waste-to-energy-to-food scenarios). The results indicate that incineration is the best performing scenario when the nutritional energy provided by the valorisation alternative is not high enough and the valorisation technology presents the highest water consumption. Therefore, a minimisation in the consumption of natural resources is suggested in order to improve the application of circular economy within the sector. The use of the nexus index as an environmental management tool is extendable to any food system with the aim of facilitating the decision-making process in the development of more sustainable products.

Waste management under a life cycle approach as a tool for a circular economy in the canned anchovy industry.

The anchovy canning industry has high importance in the Cantabria Region (North Spain) from economic, social and touristic points of view. The Cantabrian canned anchovy is world-renowned owing to its handmade and traditional manufacture. The canning process generates huge amounts of several food wastes, whose suitable management can contribute to benefits for both the environment and the economy, closing the loop of the product life cycle. Life cycle assessment methodology was used in this work to assess the environmental performance of two waste management alternatives: Head and spine valorisation to produce fishmeal and fish oil; and anchovy meat valorisation to produce anchovy paste. Fuel oil production has been a hotspot of the valorisation of heads and spines, so several improvements should be applied. With respect to anchovy meat valorisation, the production of polypropylene and glass for packaging was the least environmentally friendly aspect of the process. Furthermore, the environmental characterisation of anchovy waste valorisation was compared with incineration and landfilling alternatives. In both cases, the valorisation management options were the best owing to the avoided burdens associated with the processes. Therefore, it is possible to contribute to the circular economy in the Cantabrian canned anchovy industry.

Life cycle assessment modelling of waste-to-energy incineration in Spain and Portugal.

In recent years, waste management systems have been evaluated using a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. A main shortcoming of prior studies was the focus on a mixture of waste with different characteristics. The estimation of emissions and consumptions associated with each waste fraction in these studies presented allocation problems. Waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration is a clear example in which municipal solid waste (MSW), comprising many types of materials, is processed to produce several outputs. This paper investigates an approach to better understand incineration processes in Spain and Portugal by applying a multi-input/output allocation model. The application of this model enabled predictions of WTE inputs and outputs, including the consumption of ancillary materials and combustibles, air emissions, solid wastes, and the energy produced during the combustion of each waste fraction.