ICMR_A Manufacturing Approach to Reducing Consumer Food Waste.pdf (166.39 kB)
Download fileA manufacturing approach to reducing consumer food waste
conference contribution
posted on 11.10.2016, 12:23 by Aicha Jellil, Elliot WoolleyElliot Woolley, Guillermo Garcia-Garcia, Shahin RahimifardShahin RahimifardGlobally, one third of food produced is wasted. In the UK, 47% of the food waste is post-consumer revealing a need to encourage more efficient consumption. This research asserts that manufacturers and retailers can play a crucial role in minimising consumer food waste (CFW) through consumer engagement and provision of smart solutions that ensure more efficient use of food products. Supporting manufacturers and retailers to minimise CFW can be achieved via two stages: a) understanding and evaluating CFW, and b) identifying improvements to manufacturing and retail activities that would reduce CFW. On-site waste audits have identified that the percentage of edible CFW from domestic environments (77%) is greater than that disposed of in public areas (14%) supporting the hypothesis that improving the full food provisioning process (e.g. packaging, storage, guidance) would be beneficial. This paper proposes a number of mechanisms to support manufacturing and retail in reducing CFW.
Funding
This research is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK through the grant EP/K030957/1.
History
School
- Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering