Reduced food waste

With this call, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency wants to support research that increases knowledge about effective measures to reduce food waste and contributes to a resource-efficient food chain. The closing date for application is September 7th, 2022.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency invite individual researchers or research groups to apply for funding for research projects at a maximum of SEK three (3) million with a duration of three years (2023–2026). The goal is to grant several projects within the call, which has a total budget of approximately SEK 12 million. Application deadline is 7th September 2022.

Aim and interest groups

The purpose of the call is to gain increased knowledge about food waste, how food waste can be reduced, and in particular to identify behaviours and problems that actors face in one part of the food chain, but which only become visible and cause food waste in other parts. In addition, the call aims for in-depth knowledge of the effect of implemented measures, including evaluation methods and types of measures, and where in the food system they are needed. In the longer term, the results are expected to contribute to achieving relevant environmental goals. The call focuses on two thematic areas where the applicant can choose one or combine the two.

The primary target group is employees at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency that work with issues of resource efficiency, but other authorities working with the area can also benefit from the results.

Background

Food waste is food that is produced for the purpose of becoming food, but which for various reasons is not consumed. Food waste reduction contributes to less environmental impact (1). Food waste is extensive, both in Sweden (2) and globally, and entails an unnecessary environmental burden, economic losses and in the long run difficult opportunities to supply a growing world population with food. The EU waste hierarchy (3) argues that food waste must be prevented primarily. From a resource perspective, it is preferable that what is produced for the purpose of becoming food goes to human consumption. Much remains to be done to halve food waste and reduce food chain losses in line with the milestones and the Agenda 12.3 goal (4).

The food chain

For circular economy work food chain resource efficiency is an important part and contributes to sustainable consumption and production. A resource-efficient food chain with measures to reduce food waste is a priority both in the EU circular economy action plan (5) and in the national circular economy strategy (6).

The various stages of the food chain, from primary production in agriculture and fishing to final consumption in households, restaurants and commercial kitchens are illustrated in the report Food losses in Sweden, see Figure 1 (7). As part of the European Green Deal, the European Commission in May 2020 adopted the strategy "From farm to fork for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system" (8) to reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the EU food system. Among other things the strategy identifies reduced food waste as an important area. As part of this work, the European Commission has launched an initiative to develop a binding EU target for food waste reduction (9). The aim is to ensure that Member States take ambitious measures to reduce food waste in their respective countries.

Food production and consumption have a major impact on the environment and climate. About 14 percent of the world's climate-affecting emissions come from agriculture and land use (10). Food production involves the use of various inputs such as water, soil, fossil energy, feed, manure, mineral fertilisers, plant protection products, veterinary drugs and pesticides. In the production of food, different types of effects on the environment then arise, e.g. greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change, leakage of plant nutrients that contribute to eutrophication, use of land that contributes to increased or decreased biodiversity, spread of plant protection products that can affect biodiversity or lead to deteriorating water status.

The different stages of the food chain

Figure 1. Figure 1 illustrates the different stages of the food chain, from primary production in agriculture and fishing, on to the food industry, wholesaler and grocery store to final consumption in households, restaurants and commercial kitchens.
Source: Jordbruksverket, Rapport 2021:2 (pdf, jordbruksverket.se)

Prevent and reduce food waste

The negative environmental effects of food production need to be minimised. Among other things food waste can occur if the products cannot be stored for later use, or if the food supply is poorly demand adapted.

Reasons for food waste often fall into three categories:

  1. Behaviours within one's own ranks and which the actor him/herself has at his/her disposal and which give rise to food waste.
  2. Behaviours that occur in the earlier or later stages and that cause loss in actor's own stage.
  3. External causes such as weather impact.

There is a great societal benefit in reducing food waste, however, there may be goal conflicts between societal benefit and economic gain. Industry-wide measures between actors in the food chain have been identified as important not contribute to food waste occurring in other stages of the food chain. Awareness and motivation to reduce food waste among all actors in the food chain needs to increase. Joint efforts from several different actors also create opportunities to bring about behavioural changes in, among others, consumers, where most of the food waste occurs. The food's overall environmental impact is at its highest in the later stages of the food chain, and it is also this part that the projects of the call will focus on.

Given the intricate connections between different stages in food production, it is necessary to use a systems perspective to assess what is possible and what is appropriate, as well as to identify what the mechanisms are that leads to food waste and how and where in the chain they can be remedied. Projects within the call shall not take into account factors before harvest and slaughter, such as the impact of extreme weather and animal infestations.

The EU Joint Research Center (JRC) (11) has recently developed a framework for evaluating food waste prevention measures. The Framework also gives opportunities to compare evaluations of different initiatives and thus evaluate how successful existing initiatives have been, as part of further prioritising the implementation of new measures.

Knowledge needs

Increased knowledge is needed for the authority's work with resource efficiency, which aims at reduced food waste and which also contributes to the work of other authorities responsible for environmental goals in the area. The results of the call are expected to contribute to knowledge that increases the chances of achieving the milestones for reduced food waste (12), the fourth, fifth and seventh indents of the Generation Goal and Agenda 2030 goal 12.3 on reduced food waste.

In order to identify and understand which food waste reduction measures and instruments are most effective in different contexts, knowledge of societal costs, actors, effects and other consequences from existing and from new proposed measures and instruments is needed. In these perspectives, the need for new data is great and to identify where the data gaps are, so that improved data can be obtained. Another need for knowledge relates to generic approaches for assessments and further development of evaluation frameworks to achieve more consistent evaluations.

Priorities

The call focuses the food waste that appears in the latter stages of the food chain – from wholesale to consumers – but may mean that measures may be needed in other parts of the chain.

The call does not focus on research on losses before harvest or slaughter. We request studies on the environmental consequences of food waste in terms of societal costs, actor costs, effects and other consequences from existing and future measures and instruments. Aspects that need to be highlighted are the identification and bridging of the underlying causes of food waste in the food chain. For example, through identification and analysis of actors' interdependence and actions and how different business models affect the emergence of food waste.

Financed projects are expected to result in suggestions that identify best practices, prioritise the greatest potential, and thereby enable a consistent assessment of the environmental and economic benefits of such initiatives for the future.

In-depth knowledge is sought within two theme areas (sub-specialisations):

  1. from a system perspective, identify and analyse effective measures and in which stage in the food chain the measures are to be implemented, and
  2. evaluation based on comparative case studies of implemented food waste prevention measures and their outcomes.

The goal is to grant funding for at least one project within each theme area. It is possible to combine the theme areas in the project application.

Focus area 1: Measures – both scalable and generalisable – to reduce food waste in the various stages. With a systems approach, identify the waste of different product groups in different stages of the food chain and shed light on where the introduction of measures for different product groups would be important and most effective. Identified measures should preferably be able to be used widely in current areas and/or industries.

One or two of the following perspectives can be used to show how measures in one part of the chain can affect food waste in another part and how the measures can be evaluated and analysed.

These perspectives can be supplemented with other perspectives of your choice.

  • Measures in the wholesale and grocery trade that affect the end consumers' food waste
  • Increased automation and digitisation
  • Changed consumer behaviour
  • Handling of food in the chain, food orders and forecasts, optimised warehousing, temperatures and packaging properties
  • The role of the process industry in the food chain
  • Instruments and development of instruments
  • Potential business models that, for example, affect several stages
  • Collaboration between the public sector and industry.

Focus area 2: In this focus area, evaluation studies on the effect and effectiveness of food waste prevention measures based on generalisable case studies and/or comparative case studies in a Swedish context are requested. Testing of various relevant frameworks for evaluation, as well as identification of which existing data gaps there are for evaluation of the effect of measures, must also be elucidated. Several aspects need to be analysed:

  1. Effect of the measure (s) ”effectiveness” – how reducing food waste contributes to the set goal,
  2. Efficiency of the measure/measures ”efficiency” – how much resources are required for the implemented reduction.
  3. Analysis of the duration of the measure (s) over time.
  4. How can evaluation studies better demonstrate the possibility of generating structured data that can potentially be used for compiling national statistics?

Questions that can be asked are:

  • Can methods be designed, based on life cycle thinking, to improve the evaluation of the measures' effectiveness and efficiency, increase comparability, and improve the prioritisation between different measures?
  • How can the results of evaluation be translated into environmental impact from products that have become food waste?

Practical instructions

It is important that the relevance for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is clearly described in the application. We welcome both subject-specific as well as interdisciplinary research projects. We encourage new research collaborations and interactions with actors outside academy.

The main applicant must hold a PhD and conduct research at a university, college, research institute, or government agency carrying out research as part of its mandate. The main applicant shall be affiliated with a Swedish organisation with a corporate identity number (”organisationsnummer”). If the main applicant and co-applicants were granted research funding from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency within earlier calls, any due final report should have been submitted and approved to be considered for funding within this call.

The application will not be considered if the maximum funding is exceeded.

Granted researchers are expected to participate in the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's annual research conference and yearly status meetings and to allocate resources for communication with the funders and other stakeholders.

How to apply

The application should be written in English, as the applications are reviewed by international experts. The application is made electronically via the portal PRISMA. See the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's instructions for both applicants and reviewers. See also the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's policy for further utilisation of data and information.

Important dates

  • Call deadline: 7th September 2022, 14:00 C.E.T
  • Funding decision: January 2023
  • Project start: March 2023

Contact

Senior research officer Marie Denward
E-mail: marie.denward@naturvardsverket.se
Phone: +46 10 698 12 89

Senior Kerstin Jansbo
E-mail: kerstin.jansbo@naturvardsverket.se
Phone: +46 10 698 14 56

Senior research officer Hannah Östergård Roswall
E-mail: hannah.ostergard.roswall@naturvardsverket.se
Phone: +46 10 698 16 81