How better food and drink value chain efficiency can create a more sustainable future

Increasing efficiency through improving resources use and reducing waste across the food and drink value chain has the potential to support a transition to a more sustainable future. Julie Bonfait, a Senior Consultant in the circular economy team at Ricardo explains more.   

The figures are quite alarming, according to the UN, around one fifth of food produced for human consumption is either lost or wasted. Not only does this impact heavily on the finances of producers and consumers and economies of countries where food is produced, but it also offers a direct correlation between food production and climate emergencies, given the resources needed to produce and store food.  

Food waste generally refers to produce that is thrown away by consumers (e.g., individuals, restaurants). Whereas food loss usually happens at the production, post-harvest and/or processing stages of the food chain. By-products and residues are usually referred to within food loss. These relate to edible food products that have been discarded, lost or degraded, or inedible parts that can have value in other uses (e.g., carrot tops, potato haulms). According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) around one third of all food produced is either lost or wasted every year. In addition to setting a target to halve food loss and waste by 2030, there is an aim to reduce the number of emissions from food loss and waste, which occur across the supply chain. In 2017, global food waste resulted in 9.3bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent (GTCO2e) emissions.  

Food loss and waste not only contributes to a lost opportunity for human health and nutrition globally, but has a major impact on economies and the environment. 
So what’s the solution? 

A truly circular food system is one where food waste is eliminated and all resources are kept at high-value use, for as long as possible. Where food loss is valorised through identification and implementation of secondary use options. Collaboration between inter- and intra- value chain partners is facilitated through efficient and clear information sharing, and any unavoidable waste or loss is minimised and circulated back into the system via treatment options such as anaerobic digestion. 

Ricardo supports clients globally, including businesses, organisations and governments to develop and deliver strategies, that can reduce vulnerability and build long-term organisational and supply chain resilience.  

Our expertise stretches from farm to fork and beyond with support throughout a product lifecycle, from baselining and road mapping through feasibility studies and implementation to reporting and review.  

Case Study - Supporting Scotland’s Sustainable Future 

Since 2016, Ricardo has worked on a series of projects related to each other on behalf of the Industrial Biotechnnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), Scottish Enterprise and Zero Waste Scotland. One such project is the development of the Scottish Bioresource Mapping Tool for IBioIC and Scottish Enterprise. Julie Bonfait, a senior consultant in the circular economy team at Ricardo reveals more.  

The purpose of Ricardo’s project was to map Scotland’s biological waste (bio-waste), by-products and residues arisings down to the local authority level.  

The deliverables were aimed at providing detailed information to organisations looking for sustainable sources of bioresources and/or sustainable solutions for their bio-waste, by-products and/or residues, supporting the development of Scotland’s sustainable, local and low carbon value chains and the reduction of its waste generation.  

Ricardo had collected the data required for this tool as part of a project delivered for Zero Waste Scotland, conducting extended literature reviews, market assessments, stakeholder engagements and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to write the ‘Biorefinery Potential for Scotland’ report. The use of this data was permitted by Zero Waste Scotland solely for the purposes of this tool. 

The mapping tool was created using Microsoft Excel and initially modelled the following key material groupings:

• Household and commercial and industrial waste
• By-products (from whisky, beer, fish, dairy and meat)
• Agriculture
• Sludge

The following material groups were added as part of subsequent data and tool developments:

• Industrial emission: Carbon dioxide
• Marine biomass: Macroalgae (kelp)
• Forestry biomass

The latest version of the tool was issued early 2024 in advance of IBioIC’s 10th anniversary conference using data updated in 2022.  

This tool is one of only three of its kind worldwide and provides essential information on the volume and location of bioresource arisings, helping companies to make informed decision about feedstock selection and facility locations.  

Benefits 

Ricardo’s experience in conducting literature reviews, market assessments, stakeholder engagements and MFA supported the creation of a powerful tool that helped identify, assess, quantify and map Scotland’s bio-waste, by-product and residues arisings.  
An aim to reduce bio-waste, including food waste and loss and their related carbon emissions by encouraging the development of partnerships, can therefore be achieved by supporting the identification of a second life for such material. 

This long-term project successfully supported multiple public and private organisations such as manufacturers across all sectors, including food and drink, chemical and pharmaceutical to develop networks and partnerships in order to create sustainable, local and low carbon value chains. It also gives Scottish organisations the knowledge that high-level data is being made available to companies, investors and stakeholders that would be interested in re-using their bio-waste, by-products and/or residues, giving them the opportunity to reduce their costs and develop new partnerships. 

By better utilising by-products from the food and drink sector alone, it is estimated that £500-£800 million per year could be gained by Scotland’s economy. The environmental benefits are also evident – better use of existing materials means a reduction in demand for natural resources and use of renewables materials can create more sustainable opportunities for food, feed, materials and energy. As a result, this leads to an increase in resource resilience, reduced emissions, and will help business to progress with their net-zero targets.  

Summary 

The efficient use and management of resources in the food and drink sector is a complex problem that requires multiple solutions. However, creating a sustainability strategy that has at its heart circular economy principles is an important goal if we are going to retain maximum value for our resources and eliminate waste and loss within the food and drink value chain. This includes agricultural environment management, right through to a focus on more sustainable packaging. In addition to field to fork, it is also important to understand the process for dealing with excess food production, developing strategies to ensure that any overproduction can be properly managed through identifying high-value reuse opportunities.

Starting by establishing a support those in the industry to develop reduction and valorisation targets and actions, can not only help on this journey, but lay a vital foundation for success in the medium to long term.

Reference: Cradle-to-grave emissions from food loss and waste represent half of total greenhouse gas emissions from food systems | Nature Food