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Identifying the leading retailer-based food waste causes in different perishable fast-moving consumer goods’ categories: application of the F-LBWA methodology

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Abstract

Waste in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) is a tremendous economic and ethical issue for retailers and the rest of society. Due to methodological weaknesses, previous studies are inadequate in prioritizing fundamental causes and drivers of retail food waste (RFW) in this context. This research explores the peculiar causes and drivers of RFW concerning different perishable FMCG categories. This research employs the fuzzy level–based weight assessment (F-LBWA) methodology to provide a robust and effective decision-making tool to retailers responsible for preventing waste in their stores. This research categorizes the causes and drivers into different product categories giving insight into the reasons and drivers that need more attention than others for each product category. The findings reveal that inappropriate buying/delivery is the most significant cause of waste for fruit and vegetables, dairy products, fresh meat, fish and seafood, and baked products, whereas improper storage is the most critical cause of waste for frozen food. The present work ensures practical implications for developing product category-specific waste management policies to improve retailers’ efficiency, competitiveness, and profitability. For a developing country like Turkey, the applicable insights of this research can also serve all supply chain members and policymakers to prevent food waste through partnership.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the Editor’s efforts and the anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments and suggestions on our research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

    İlkin Yaran Ögel

  2. Sub-Department of Operations Research, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

    Fatih Ecer

  3. Department of Logistic Management, Bolvadin Faculty of Applied Sciences, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

    Ayşe Aygün Özgöz

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  1. İlkin Yaran Ögel
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  2. Fatih Ecer
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Contributions

IYO: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing, visualization. FE: formal analysis, validation, writing—original draft preparation, project administration, supervision. AAO: data curation, formal analysis, writing—review and editing, investigation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fatih Ecer.

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Ögel, İ.Y., Ecer, F. & Özgöz, A.A. Identifying the leading retailer-based food waste causes in different perishable fast-moving consumer goods’ categories: application of the F-LBWA methodology. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 32656–32672 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24500-9

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