Swedish researcher in green food logistics, Kristina Liljestrand, starts the New Year with plan to seriously cut the millions of tons of food wasted in the food supply chain. She’s been developing new tools specifically designed to help companies identify and reduce waste and the environmental impact of food transport. 

As we head into 2017, reducing global food waste continues to be high on the agenda - each year around 88 million tons of food is discarded just in the EU. This equates to around 20 percent of all food produced, with associated costs estimated at €143 billion (US$151.5 billion). Because of these shocking statistics, the European Commission is stepping up its efforts to prevent food waste, strengthen the sustainability of the food system.

Companies involved in the supply chain, organizations, retailers, global consumers and the world of science is also joining the fight against food waste.

While it difficult to grasp the true scale of food waste, Liljestrand, who is a researcher at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, believes the volumes of discarded food is shocking and believes by changing logistics systems, significant reductions can be made.

“The amount of food that is thrown away nowadays is incredible. Most food waste comes from consumers, but the amount lost in the logistics systems comes in a close second. By tweaking the logistics systems, we can ensure that the food maintains good quality and lasts as long as possible when it reaches the store,” she says.  
                                                                             
Her work is unique in many ways since logistics improvement actions to combat the waste problem is a relatively unexplored area. There is no overview of ways that the companies in the supply chain can reduce waste – but this is something that Liljestrand delivers in her doctoral thesis. Liljestrands dissertation, which was published in December 2016, is titled ‘Reducing the environmental impact of food products logistics systems.’

“The logistics systems are what bind everything together, from production of the food products to the products sitting on the store shelves. We need to understand how to work here to reduce food waste.”

Through an extensive study among Swedish producers, wholesalers and retailers, she has identified nine improvement actions.

“I describe the improvement actions, the logistics activities, and what players are involved. The compilation can be seen as a buffet for those who want to work to reduce food waste,” she adds.

An important conclusion is that collaboration throughout the food supply chain is crucial.

“Several stages of the food chain are involved when it comes to waste, making it hard for a single company working alone to reduce it. Collaboration is necessary to create effective systems that span from beginning to end so that the food products reach the stores in time.”

Liljestrand also reviewed how the environmental impact from transports in the food logistics system can be reduced. She investigated aspects including load factor (how well the space in/on pallets, crates and trucks is utilized) and the proportion of intermodal transports (wher road transport is combined with rail or sea transport), and identified which shipments are most effective to work with, and the best way of doing this.

This resulted in two frameworks that provide great help in the quest to reduce transport emissions. One thing is clear from her research – there is money to be made by increasing the load factor and focusing more on intermodal transport.

“Many logistics systems are extremely large and complex, and it can be hard to know wher to begin. The frameworks that I developed give companies tools that enable them to see what factors in their logistics systems affect transport emissions. If you work to reduce environmental impact, you often also reduce your costs,” she adds.

Last month FoodIngredientsFirst reported how the European Commission announced plans to step up its efforts against food waste by investigating every opportunity to cut food waste generated in the production, distribution and consumption of food by trying to better understand wher we lose food, how much and why.