Environmental Impacts and Hotspots of Food Losses: Value Chain Analysis of Swiss Food Consumption

Reducing food losses and waste is
crucial to making our food system
more efficient and sustainable. This is the first paper that quantifies
the environmental impacts of food waste by distinguishing the various
stages of the food value chain, 33 food categories that represent
the whole food basket in Switzerland, and including food waste treatment.
Environmental impacts are expressed in terms of climate change and
biodiversity impacts due to water and land use. Climate change impacts
of food waste are highest for fresh vegetables, due to the large amounts
wasted, while the specific impact per kg is largest for beef. Biodiversity
impacts are mainly caused by cocoa and coffee (16% of total) and by
beef (12%). Food waste at the end of the food value chain (households
and food services) causes almost 60% of the total climate impacts
of food waste, because of the large quantities lost at this stage
and the higher accumulated impacts per kg of product. The net environmental
benefits from food waste treatment are only 5–10% of the impacts
from production and supply of the wasted food. Thus, avoiding food
waste should be a first-line priority, while optimizing the method
of treatment is less relevant.