Abstract
The need for innovative approaches to tackle food waste problem is widely recognized, given its tight links with agriculture, food security, trade, energy, deforestation, and climate change challenges. As a matter of fact, an emerging branch of literature is drawing attention to the value of food waste, reporting both technological aspects of food waste valorisation (by means of case studies and/or pilot-scale laboratory experiences), and how such innovative pathways may contribute to the transition towards sustainable production and consumption systems and a more sustainable waste regime. However, little research efforts have been invested so far in relation to the development and diffusion of innovative approaches addressing the food waste problem and the role of grassroots innovations. Thus, our chapter aims at contributing to this strand of literature, by addressing two main issues:
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how do grassroots movements act and how effective are they in catalysing innovation in the food waste field?
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what are the specific roles that grassroots innovations may play in the transition towards sustainable production and consumption systems and a more sustainable waste regime?
Our investigation draws on the analysis of several case studies of grassroots innovations from European countries, and builds on the multi-level perspective (MLP) approach.
The specific findings of our study could support decision makers in developing tailored strategies to minimize the amount of food wasted along the supply chain and to unlock the enormous potential of food waste that is being landfilled, and also to instil some further investigations related to this strand of food waste literature.
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Notes
- 1.
For a comprehensive overview, please see Evans et al. (2013).
- 2.
For instance, food security has been formally turned into a policy matter, that legitimized massive investments into agricultural and food production technologies, and hence, food became abundant and also very cheap.
- 3.
Figure 15.2 should be taken as an academic exercise, aimed at illustrating the diversity of events (exerting pressure at different levels), influencing the transition towards a more sustainable food waste regime; a far more systematic content analysis is needed to depict thoroughly, in more details this transition.
- 4.
Carbon dioxide levels are now approximately 40% higher than they were at the start of the Industrial Revolution.
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Category under which falls also food waste.
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- 7.
In making this distinction, we followed the European Waste hierarchy, and we considered the primary goal of the grassroots. However, many of the grassroots innovations are tackling more than one aspect, and all of them directly or indirectly and in different extents, contribute to awareness raising; therefore this classification should be taken as an academic exercise, aimed at illustrating the diversity of grassroots innovations in respect to food waste.
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Is an environmental organisation that campaigns to end food waste at every level of the food system. To date governs 5 movements: Feeding the 5000, Gleaning Network, The Pig Idea, Stop Dumping and the FSE Network. For a comprehensive overview, see http://feedbackglobal.org/.
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From its start in 2012 to the end of 2015, the Gleaning Network UK gleaned over 188 t of produce (apples, pears, plums, strawberries, cauliflower, cabbages, lettuces, pumpkins and parsnips), equal to over 2 million portions of fruits and vegetables, with over 1000 volunteers across 99 gleaning days. http://feedbackglobal.org/campaigns/gleaning-network/.
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Première marque mondiale antigaspi–The first anti-waste brand worldwide.
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Each year, 17 million tons of perfectly edible produce is not consumed for purely aesthetic reasons (Chabanne 2014).
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The US Investment Fund—Global Emerging Markets decided to invest in the development of this concept in US and the Middle East.
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Industrial Design Student (Marina Ceccolini−Università degli studi di San Marino).
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Outcome of Marina Ceccolini’s project work (progetto di tesi).
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Two young entrepreneurs: Adriana Santanocito−background in fashion design and innovative materials and Enrica Arena−background in communication.
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For the first fabrics from citrus wastes in the world, consisting of acetate by citrus and silk.
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Two Business Angel, a lawyer and Trentino Development have funded the project.
- 24.
Fungi Futures CIC, an innovative social enterprise based in Devon, UK.
- 25.
GroCycle (2016a), Mushrooms from Coffee Grounds?
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They have converted an unused office building into an urban mushroom farm right in the heart of the city of Exeter (UK) (GroCycle 2016b).
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‘5 tonnes have been collected in Plymouth and diverted only in the first year’ (GroCycle 2016c).
- 29.
Young family of entrepreneurs with background in Enzymology (Daniele Gioia e Annarita Marchionna–Basilicata Region, South Italy).
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La Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Laurenzana e Novasiri.
- 31.
Note that the French law is setting an example in Europe and similar bills are being adopted also in other countries. Italy, for example, passed a law in august 2016, which makes it easier for companies and farmers to donate food to charities and is encouraging greater use of ‘doggy bags’ at restaurants as part of a legislative push to curb the epidemic of food waste. The new anti-food waste Italian law has essentially relaxed regulations that made food donations cumbersome. It has clarified that food may still be donated even if it is past its sell-by date, and allows farmers to transfer produce to charities at no extra cost if it has not been sold. The law also opens the door for companies to donate food that has been mislabelled as long as it does not pose a safety risk. (see: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/03/italy-food-waste-law-donate-food—last accessed 22-08-2016).
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Acknowledgements
This work was carried out partially under the project “Sustainable path creation for innovative value chains for organic waste products” (SusValueWaste), funded by the Research Programme on Sustainable Innovation in Food and Bio-based Industries (BIONÆR) under the Research Council of Norway.
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Tartiu, V.E., Morone, P. (2017). Grassroots Innovations and the Transition Towards Sustainability: Tackling the Food Waste Challenge. In: Morone, P., Papendiek, F., Tartiu, V. (eds) Food Waste Reduction and Valorisation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50088-1_15
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