Sustainable Food Waste Management

This book discusses one of the biggest challenges of the food industry, which is waste management. Food industries generate high amounts of waste, both solid and liquid, resulting from the production, processing and consumption of food. Stringent environmental legislators have made the task of waste management more challenging. Through the three sections of this book, the readers are introduced to the different types of wastes generated, utilization of waste through food processing industry and sustainable waste management technologies. The different chapters describe how the biomass and the valuable nutrients from food industry wastes could be used to develop value-added products. The book reiterates that food wastes and their by-products are an excellent source of sugars, minerals, dietary fiber, organic acids, bio active compounds such as polyphenols, carotenoids and phytochemicals etc. This book is an excellent resource for industry experts, researchers and students in the field of food science, food processing and food waste management.

Sustainable Food Waste-to-Energy Systems assesses the utilization of food waste in sustainable energy conversion systems. It explores all sources of waste generated in the food supply chain (downstream from agriculture), with coverage of industrial, commercial, institutional and residential sources. It provides a detailed analysis of the conventional pathways for food waste disposal and utilization, including composting, incineration, landfilling and wastewater treatment. Next, users will find valuable sections on the chemical, biochemical and thermochemical waste-to-energy conversion processes applicable for food waste and an assessment of commercially available sustainable food waste-to-energy conversion technologies. Sustainability aspects, including consideration of environmental, economic and social impacts are also explored. The book concludes with an analysis of how deploying waste-to-energy systems is dependent on cross-cutting research methods, including geographical information systems and big data. It is a useful resource for professionals working in waste-to-energy technologies, as well as those in the food industry and food waste management sector planning and implementing these systems, but is also ideal for researchers, graduate students, energy policymakers and energy analysts interested in the most recent advances in the field. Provides guidance on how specific food waste characteristics drive possible waste-to-energy conversion processes Presents methodologies for selecting among different waste-to-energy options, based on waste volumes, distribution and properties, local energy demand (electrical/thermal/steam), opportunities for industrial symbiosis, regulations and incentives and social acceptance, etc. Contains tools to assess potential environmental and economic performance of deployed systems Links to publicly available resources on food waste data for energy conversion

This book focuses on the crucial sustainability challenge of reducing food waste at the level of consumer-society. Providing an in-depth, research-based overview of the multifaceted problem, it considers environmental, economic, social and ethical factors. Perspectives included in the book address households, consumers, and organizations, and their role in reducing food waste. Rather than focusing upon the reasons for food waste itself, the chapters develop research-based solutions for the problem, providing a much-needed solution-orientated approach that takes multiple perspectives into account. Chapters 1, 2, 12 and 16 of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com

This work presents the findings of an extensive study on the state-of-the-art regarding the problem of food waste in Belarus, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. The results show that the problem of food waste can be found at different levels in each country and that our knowledge of it is limited by the current lack of studies in the area. The problem is primarily due to food waste generated by the manufacturing sector, mostly in the form of unused or inefficiently used by-products, as well as on a share of food thrown away by households that is still suitable for human consumption. The main reduction/prevention method, applied across the countries, is food donation; the remaining methods are the same ones used for biodegradable waste in the respective countries. The findings gathered in this study show a number of potential measures/methods for sustainable food waste management, which may be considered in future works in order to reduce the amounts of food waste generated in each of the aforementioned countries.

Advanced Organic Waste Management: Sustainable Practices and Approaches provides an integrated holistic approach to the challenges associated with organic waste management, particularly related to sustainability, lifecycle assessment, emerging regulations, and novel approaches for resource and energy recovery. In addition to traditional techniques, such as anaerobic digestion, composting, innovative and emerging techniques of waste recycling like hydrothermal carbonization and vermicomposting are included. The book combines the fundamentals and practices of sustainable organic waste management with successful case studies from developed and developing countries, highlighting practical applications and challenges. Sections cover global organic waste generation, encompassing sources and types, composition and characteristics, focus on technical aspects related to various resource recovery techniques like composting and vermicomposting, cover various waste-to-energy technologies, illustrate various environmental management tools for organic waste, present innovative organic waste management practices and strategies complemented by detailed case studies, introduce the circular bioeconomy approach, and more. Presents the fundamentals and practices of sustainable, organic waste management, with emerging regulations and up-to-date analysis on environmental management tools such as lifecycle assessment in a comprehensive manner Offers the latest information on novel concepts and strategies for organic waste management, particularly zero waste and the circular bioeconomy Includes the latest research findings and future perspectives of innovative and emerging techniques of waste recycling, such as hydrothermal carbonization and vermicomposting

Food Waste to Valuable Resources: Applications and Management compiles current information pertaining to food waste, placing particular emphasis on the themes of food waste management, biorefineries, valuable specialty products and technoeconomic analysis. Following its introduction, this book explores new valuable resource technologies, the bioeconomy, the technoeconomical evaluation of food-waste-based biorefineries, and the policies and regulations related to a food-waste-based economy. It is an ideal reference for researchers and industry professionals working in the areas of food waste valorization, food science and technology, food producers, policymakers and NGOs, environmental technologists, environmental engineers, and students studying environmental engineering, food science, and more. Presents recent advances, trends and challenges related to food waste valorization Contains invaluable knowledge on of food waste management, biorefineries, valuable specialty products and technoeconomic analysis Highlights modern advances and applications of food waste bioresources in various products’ recovery

This book adds a new dimension to the sustainability assessment of food waste reduction and valorisation: policy analysis. Featuring a transdisciplinary analysis by key experts in the field, it identifies the drivers of change in food-waste reduction and valorisation technologies by looking, for example, at the regulatory framework and at policy actions undertaken by local and global actors. The book explores the development of regulations and policies for food-waste prevention, management, and valorisation at a global as well as European Union level. It also discusses the notion of food waste in legal terms and investigates the effects of the lack of a standard, universal definition of food waste on the efficient use of by-products, promising processes and products for technological and commercial exploitation. Utilising mathematical mapping methods to assess food consumption impacts and providing supply chain models that allow the testing of consumption scenarios, the book goes on to discuss a series of emerging technologies (tested at lab scale and/ or pilot scale) and opportunities for the valorisation of food waste.