TY - JOUR
T1 - Global water and energy losses from consumer avoidable food waste
AU - Coudard, A.
AU - Corbin, E
AU - de Koning, J.I.J.C.
AU - Tukker, Arnold
AU - Mogollón, José
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Food products require significant amounts of energy and water throughout their lifecycle, yet humanity wastes 1.3e9 tons of food on a yearly basis. A large part of this waste occurs during the consumption (post-retail) phase of the food system as avoidable food waste, the discarded edible (parts of) food products. In this study, we explore the effects of avoidable food waste on the Food-Energy-Water nexus. We show that the 344 million tonnes of global avoidable food waste is responsible for squandering 4e18 J of energy and 82e9 m3 of water. While there are important regional differences in terms of avoidable food waste due to varying diets and waste incidences, these energy and water losses are rivaling the electricity and the blue water use of populous nations, and adding to needless pressures on the environment.
AB - Food products require significant amounts of energy and water throughout their lifecycle, yet humanity wastes 1.3e9 tons of food on a yearly basis. A large part of this waste occurs during the consumption (post-retail) phase of the food system as avoidable food waste, the discarded edible (parts of) food products. In this study, we explore the effects of avoidable food waste on the Food-Energy-Water nexus. We show that the 344 million tonnes of global avoidable food waste is responsible for squandering 4e18 J of energy and 82e9 m3 of water. While there are important regional differences in terms of avoidable food waste due to varying diets and waste incidences, these energy and water losses are rivaling the electricity and the blue water use of populous nations, and adding to needless pressures on the environment.
KW - Consumer food waste
KW - Embodied energy
KW - Food-energy-water nexus
KW - Resource-efficiency
KW - Sustainable food system
KW - Water footprint
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117734494&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129342
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129342
M3 - Article
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 326
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 129342
ER -