A Social Innovation Model for Reducing Food Waste: The Case Study of an Italian Non-Profit Organization

Mariarosaria Lombardi and Marco Costantino
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Mariarosaria Lombardi: Department of Economics, University of Foggia, Via R. Caggese, 1, 71121 Foggia, Italy
Marco Costantino: APS Farina 080 Onlus, Via C. Guarnieri 2/a, 70121 Bari, Italy

Administrative Sciences, 2020, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: Food waste (FW) is always considered as one of the main challenges for the planet Earth in terms of ethical and social impacts as well as economic and environmental ones. In September 2015, the UN launched the Agenda for 2030 for sustainable development, establishing the 50% reduction in FW at the retail and consumer levels by 2030, as well as food loss along food supply chains. However, there are some concerns about the possibility of concretely reaching this target. One is surely due to the fact that more targeted strategies are more oriented towards logistic/marketing functions than social ones, losing the importance deriving from the reconfiguration of social networks in food redistribution. In this context, the aim of this paper is to improve understanding about how social innovation models can enhance FW reduction, building new relations inside the stakeholders network, and involving new actors usually not actively participating. To do this, the authors present a case study of an Italian non-profit project, named Avanzi Popolo 2.0, adopting this type of approach. The results highlight the importance of building the sense of community and of creating social capital in local food redistribution networks for tackling the issue of FW reduction.

Keywords: food supply chain; food waste; surplus food; EU regulation; social innovation; non-profit organization; community networks; food redistribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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