FOOD WASTE PREVENTION AS A TOOL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION: A CASE STUDY FROM GREECE

Abstract Since the publication of the findings that consumers in the UK throw away 31% of the food that they buy, food waste is becoming an increasingly significant global issue. Food waste is generated throughout the entire life cycle of food. Since significant resources are required for food production, manufacturing, transportation, storage, retailing and preparation, food waste is a waste of valuable resources with obvious economic and environmental implications. To make matters environmentally worse, food waste typically ends up in landfills and, due to its high biodegradability, contributes to the global greenhouse gases generation. Thus, food waste prevention, among its other positive contributions, can also act as a tool for the mitigation of man-made climate change. The aim of this paper is the estimation of the GHG emissions associated with food waste generation in Greece. The scope of the research included both the emissions upstream of the waste management and those associated with the management of food waste. The results indicate that emissions of 5,609.2 Gg of CO 2 eq. are associated with food waste in Greece. In order to reduce the burden on global warming resulting from food waste, emphasis should be placed on the prevention of food waste generated throughout the life cycle of food stuff. Keywords: greenhouse gases, food waste, prevention 2 Introduction There is evidence that the most environmentally damaging form of human consumption is eatin

WASTE PREVENTION SCENARIOS USING A WEB-BASED TOOL FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Abstract Waste prevention is the highest ranked priority in the European Waste Framework Directive. The aim of this paper is to present the design, development and main features of a web-based tool that enables local authorities to select and implement optimum waste prevention programmes for their local conditions and to prepare their Waste Prevention Plans. The aforementioned tool, namely the WASP-Tool, is implemented as a knowledge-based decision support system which extracts characteristics and features of the waste prevention strategy models and applies multi-criteria evaluation techniques in order to facilitate decision making. It has been developed in Greek and reflects Greek and Cypriot data, context and waste prevention potential, to facilitate its use by local authorities and local administration

Knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of secondary school students on renewable feedstocks/biomass: The case of Greece

Green Chemistry is a new approach of chemistry that aims to satisfy the global concerns and demand for sustainability. Green Chemistry is guided by twelve very specific principles of chemical practice. Among them, the seventh one promotes the use of renewable raw materials and feedstock, such as biomass. The widespread application of Green Chemistry principles in everyday life can be achieved by incorporating its paradigm into simple experiments and activities at regular school courses. Thus, an exploration of the students' background is required. The aim of this study is to provide baseline data on Greek student's knowledge, beliefs and attitudes related to the seventh Green Chemistry principle namely the use of renewable feedstocks, in order to facilitate introduction of appropriate provision in the school curricula and practice in Greece. Our results indicate that there is a serious knowledge gap among secondary school students regarding the main biomass formation mechanism and the connection of biomass to the global food supply in addition to the almost complete lack of knowledge of the main Green Chemistry principles. Regarding their attitudes, students are positive towards the use of biomass and express a very strong will to be environmentally informed. A logical conclusion of our research is that the development of relevant material that will focus on the application of Green Chemistry principles in everyday life in combination with a training of a core group of educators could be considered as the first steps towards the introduction of Green Chemistry principles in the secondary education system of Greece. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Impact of water hardness on consumers' perception of laundry washing result in five European countries

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