D5.4 Simplified LCA & LCC of food waste valorization, Description of standardised models for the valorisation spreadsheet tool for life-cycle assessment and life-cycle costing

The spreadsheet tool FORKLIFT was developed to help stakeholders gain a general understanding of the environmental impacts and costs for selected valorisation routes of a given food processing side flow. The approach enables the user to change different parameters and to try out how these changes affect the life cycle costs and greenhouse gas emissions. This report provides the general methodological background for the tool

Environmental assessment of the valorisation and recycling of selected food production side flows

Abstract Residues from the food manufacturing industry require management options with the best overall environmental outcome. The identification of sustainable solutions depends however, on many influencing factors such as energy input, transport distance, and substituted product. This study shows the influence of the choice of substituted products on the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for three specific food side-flows and their treatment in the European Union: animal blood, apple pomace and brewers' spent grain (BSG). In a direct comparison of possible treatment options, it is notable that the conversion to food ingredients (valorisation) does not always result in reduced environmental net impacts (GHG savings), which means that other options at lower levels of the waste hierarchy might be more beneficial to the environment. The further use of apple pomace or BSG for the production of food ingredients is only advantageous if the processing emissions are smaller than the emissions from the substituted products. The use of food side-flows as animal feed shows environmental advantages in all scenarios, as the use of conventional feed, such as soybean meal or hay, is reduced and so are the GHG emissions. The anaerobic digestion of food side-flows is associated with significant GHG emissions, but alternative energy also display a high GHG factor when based on fossil resources. The measuring of circularity in the food sector is a challenge in itself due to the complexity of renewable materials. This study shall help to understand the interwoven influences of certain parameters to the results

Integration of LCC and LCA results to higher system levels : The German meat and EU tomato cases

This report aims to highlight the potential contribution of food waste reduction to improving the sustainability of agri-food sector, by integrating the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) results and upscaling them to a higher system level, using Germany meat and EU tomatoes as examples

The development of a resource-efficient photovoltaic system

This paper presents the measures taken in the demonstration of the photovoltaic case study developed within the European project ‘Towards zero waste in industrial networks’ (Zerowin), integrating the D4R (Design for recycling, repair, refurbishment and reuse) criteria at both system and industrial network level. The demonstration is divided into three phases. The first phase concerns the development of a D4R photovoltaic concept, the second phase focused on the development of a specific component of photovoltaic systems and the third phase was the demonstration of the D4R design in two complete photovoltaic systems (grid-connected and stand-alone). This paper includes a description of the installed photovoltaic systems, including a brief summary at component level of the lithium ion battery system and the D4R power conditioning system developed for the pilot installations. Additionally, industrial symbioses within the network associated with the photovoltaic systems and the production model for the network are described

Environmental impacts of food waste in Europe

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Impact\ua0of\ua0food\ua0banks\ua0and\ua0other\ua0initiatives\ua0aimed\ua0at\ua0the\ua0food\ua0supply\ua0of\ua0marginalised\ua0 social\ua0groups

This report concludes the research from the FUSIONS Work Package (WP) 1 \u201cReliable data and information sources, trends and assessment criteria\u201d The aim of this report is to serve as documentation for the existing knowledge base with respect to the socioeconomic and environmental impact of food waste and to provide new information on how to proceed towards socio-economic and environmental assessment of the impacts of food waste. According to the FUSIONS definition the term food waste is referring to a fraction of food and inedible parts removed from the food supply chain going to recovery or disposal (incl. composting). The impact assessment covers the following topics: - impacts on health and nutrition of food waste - socio-economic impacts of food waste - social impacts from food redistribution organisations, such as food banks or social supermarkets - environmental impacts of food waste A baseline assessment was carried out to receive estimates for current food waste in EU, to identify data gaps and to draw recommendations. The findings shall serve as a basis for further research

D5.4 Simplified LCA & LCC of food waste valorization, Description of standardised models for the valorisation spreadsheet tool for life-cycle assessment and life-cycle costing

The spreadsheet tool FORKLIFT was developed to help stakeholders gain a general understanding of the environmental impacts and costs for selected valorisation routes of a given food processing side flow. The approach enables the user to change different parameters and to try out how these changes affect the life cycle costs and greenhouse gas emissions. This report provides the general methodological background for the tool