Food waste reduction in supermarkets – Net costs and benefits of reduced storage temperature

Mattias Eriksson, Ingrid Strid and Per-Anders Hansson

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2016, vol. 107, issue C, 73-81

Abstract: Food waste is a major problem and therefore measures are needed to reduce it. Since expired best-before date is a frequently cited cause of food waste in supermarkets, prolonging shelf life could reduce food waste. Longer shelf life could be achieved in different ways, e.g. reduced storage temperature. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the extent to which longer shelf life actually leads to reduced food waste, and whether the benefits of reduced waste exceed the increased energy costs of maintaining reduced storage temperature. Therefore this study calculated the net effect of reducing food waste in supermarkets by reducing the storage temperature through simulating the relationships between food waste reduction, longer shelf life, reduced storage temperature and increased energy costs.

Keywords: Waste prevention; Retail; Shelf life; Turnover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:107:y:2016:i:c:p:73-81

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.11.022

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