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Review
. 2020 Oct:45:101140.
doi: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2020.101140. Epub 2020 Jul 31.

The role of reducing food waste for resilient food systems

Bojana Bajželj  1   2 , Thomas E Quested  2 , Elin Röös  1 , Richard P J Swannell  2
Affiliations
Review

The role of reducing food waste for resilient food systems

Bojana Bajželj et al. Ecosyst Serv. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Food waste undermines long-term resilience of the global food system by aggravating ecosystem damage. The global community must therefore work to reduce the amount of food that gets wasted. However, we should be mindful of some potential conflicts between food waste reduction and food system resilience. Over-production and over-supply are a contributing cause of waste, yet they also provide resilience in the form of redundancy. In this paper, we examine individual interventions designed to minimise food waste by scoring their impact on different aspects of resilience. We find that there are strong synergistic elements and interventions that support short- and long-term resilience, such as improved storage, which reduces the need to provide a constant flow of 'surplus food' and replaces it with a stock of 'spare' food. Some interventions carry a risk of trade-offs due to possible losses of redundancy, and investment lock-in that may reduce the ability of farmers to adapt by changing what and where they farm. Trade-offs do not mean that those interventions should not be pursuit, but they should be recognised so that can be adequately addressed with complimentary actions. This review underlines the necessity of food-systems thinking and joined-up policy.

Keywords: Food policy; Food sustainability; Food waste; Interventions; Resilience.

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Conflict of interest statement

Tom Quested, Richard Swannell and Bojana Bajzelj are associated with WRAP, a UK-based charity with a longstanding history of working on food waste reduction. No other potential conflict of interest is declared.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Main linkages between food waste reduction and food system resilience.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Simplified causal loop diagram showing the short-term and long-term effects of over-production (of which food waste is a symptom of) on resilience. Dashed line signifies that over-production is often a result of seeking resilience.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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