Promoting Circular Economy in the Food Supply Chain

Project Information

ProCEedS

Grant agreement ID: 823967

DOI

10.3030/823967

Project closed

EC signature date 13 June 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 432 400,00

EU contribution

€ 432 400,00

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ProCEedS (Promoting Circular Economy in the Food Supply Chain)

Reporting period: 2022-06-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to mobilise global efforts to ‘transform our world’ so as to address major challenges facing global society, such as achieving food security, reducing food loss and waste and providing healthy nutrition for all.
Increasing consumption of food (due to population growth and increases in purchasing power) that has high environmental impact associated is placing massive strain on the global agri-food system. Nonetheless, hunger and malnutrition remains a major problem in developing countries. Also, climate change poses a great threat on food security due to the critical dependence of agri-food production on environmental conditions. A slight change of these conditions can have a direct effect on the crop yield variability and consequently on farmers’ incomes, food prices, trade patterns and investment plans.
Within this context, new strategies are needed in order to maximise the yield of food production systems while minimising wastage and reducing environmental impact FAO estimates that, on a global scale, one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally (1.3BN tons per year); even in the EU, despite significant policy efforts, 88MM tons of food are wasted annually, with associated costs estimated at €143BN. This causes waste in production resources (such as land, water, energy and inputs) and avoidable environmental impacts. Also, food production and consumption produce approximately one third of total greenhouse gas emissions. All this represents a real threat to the security and sustainability of food supply chains.
The proposed research project will attempt to contribute to the existing fields of both Circular Economy theory and Supply Chain Management by providing insights related to the actual applicability of the Circular Economy (CE) paradigm in agri-food supply chains within free-market contexts. Focus is placed on the examination and involvement of stakeholders covering all stages from primary production to the point of regenerating biological nutrients and redirecting them back to agricultural production.
In detail, the aims of this project can be articulated as follows:
- To explore the CE paradigms implemented on different system levels of the examined regions and assess the level of their system integration.
- To assess the environmental costs and benefits of innovative circular patterns in the agro-industry.
- To identify and assess the different drivers and barriers categories that the different system actors experience in the implementation of CE.
- To assess whether the inherent structural characteristics of free market economies are able to “close the loop” and facilitate the transition towards a circular agri-food economy.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work towards the project objectives has started during the visits among partners, and all project deliverables which were due to date, along with project milestones, have been completed.

An initial step performed within WP1 was the performance of a review of food waste conversion pathways, and related trade-offs and opportunities. In an early study (also resulting from project secondments), the Ecological performances of EU28 food waste treatment processes have been assessed through Life-Cycle Assessment and Emergy Accounting methods, providing information from a donor and a consumer side perspectives for supporting policies. The main identified opportunities are the reduced environmental pressure and better management of resources, the avoided loss of economic value and the generation of work opportunities.
Furthermore, WP1 has established the need for a multi-stakeholder, multi-dimensional and multi-criteria approach for the evaluation of the transition towards a circular economy across multiple sustainability dimensions. Work performed in the project discusses the capability and the limits of selected assessment methods (such as Life Cycle Assessment, Energy and Emergy Accounting, Life Cycle Costing, Social Life Cycle Analysis).
Theoretical and practical problems inherent to the design of these methods have been discussed, and then applied to a wide range of case studies, that were developed in collaboration with industrial beneficiary partners. Specific case studies have been aimed at investigating the potential of Circular Economy practices in several agri-food supply chains, including: meat additives; lemons; olive oil; wine-making; cocoa; wastewaters.

Within WP2, the project also questioned, in a critical manner, the foundations of the Circular Economy discourse. In several related publications, researchers from the project discussed how the Circular Economy concept could be problematic for a number of reasons, claiming that the biggest shortcoming of the CE discourse is represented by its apolitical and technocratic framing. There is indeed a lack of discussion about the basic assumptions regarding social and economic structures on which the circular economy should be based, with research predominantly focusing on technical and practical questions. The project performed an analysis in terms of understanding the actors and policies that are relevant for the proper implementation of innovative Circular Economy models, considering both a bottom-up and a top-down approach. Also, the project looked at the potential tensions arising as a result of the implementation of Circular Economy practices in agri-food supply chains. Researchers from the consortium will also explore alternative business models (mainly co-operatives, family businesses and small firms) and their potential in relation to the Circular Economy, producing recommendations for both businesses and policy-makers.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project has so far contributed to the Circular Economy debate in a number of ways.
In an early study, the Ecological performances of food waste treatment processes have been assessed. Furthermore, the project has established the need for a multi-stakeholder, multi-dimensional and multi-criteria approach for the evaluation of the transition towards a circular economy across different time and spatial scales, as well as multiple sustainability dimensions. Project secondments have offered the opportunity to apply several assessment methods to real-world case-studies. This has also offered the opportunity to transfer knowledge to industrial beneficiaries, who have benefited from the application of state-of-the-art methods to their operations in order to evaluate the potential of the transition towards circular supply chains.
In several related publications, researchers from the project discussed how the Circular Economy concept could be problematic for a number of reasons, claiming that the biggest shortcoming of the CE discourse is represented by its apolitical and technocratic framing. There is indeed a lack of discussion about the basic assumptions regarding social and economic structures on which the circular economy should be based, with research predominantly focusing on technical and practical questions; in the next reporting period, the project will also focus on these issues, drawing useful policy implications.
In the forthcoming period, the project will continue to transfer knowledge to the industrial beneficiaries, mainly through project secondments, in order to offer further advice about the implementation of more circular operations, also highlighting the inherent risks posed by such transition.

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