The Sustainable Use of Food Waste in the Circular Food Supply Chain - A Systematic Review and Analysis of the Scientific Deficiencies

Abstract

A systematic literature review was conducted on studies related to sustainable food waste in the circular economy. Specific databases were searched for academic studies from 2015 to 2019, 23 studies were identified and analysed for year, page length, journal, methodology, theories and experimental findings. The aggregated findings suggested that the most significant gap is that a variety of techniques and approaches have been taken, but that there has been insufficient focus on any of them. In addition, a small number of publications work in this field, and the slow emergence of the employment demonstrates the huge untapped potential. In some studies, a common theme was sustainable food waste from local agriculture, such as chestnut shells, citrus fruit and olive waste. A variety of technologies were identified, many used in bio refineries but these are emerging technologies and some studies merely tested ideas on a small scale. Hence, substantially more research and a greater collaboration between various stakeholders in sustainable food waste is required. The main motivators for the initiative was found to be replacement of fossil fuels by biofuels and diminishing the issue of global food security.