Low-hanging fruit : Measures to reduce fruit and vegetable waste at supermarkets

Abstract: More than 30 percent of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. This leads to a significant environmental impact in terms of inefficient use of natural resources, as well as economic costs and social and moral issues. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of fruit and vegetable waste at the retail level and provide recommendations for actions that aim to prevent and reduce food waste. Primary data were collected at three large supermarkets in Sweden in 2013 and 2019, with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods applied. The results show that the total annual amount of fruit and vegetable waste for the three stores was 68 tonnes, the economic cost was SEK 1,628,000, and the global warming potential was 32,600 kg CO2-eq. The results also show that out of 81 fruit and vegetable categories, seven categories contributed to the majority of the waste in terms of mass, economic cost, and climate impact. These categories are apple, banana, grape, lettuce, pear, sweet pepper, and tomato. Furthermore, the role of employees is central to reducing food waste, and a cost benefit analysis revealed that it is financially justifiable to increase their working hours for preventive waste management in order to accomplish a reduction of waste without an economic loss for the stores. Between 2013 and 2019, the wasted mass was reduced by 12 percent while sales increased by 18 percent. The waste reduction can be explained by five effective measures concerning cooling facilities, product range, crediting, packaging, and best before date labels. The thesis comprised four papers and provides a base for planning and implementing reduction measures for the grocery retail sector, which will contribute to a sustainable food supply chain.