Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste

This work provides an internationally comparable consumer food waste dataset based on food availability, energy gap and consumer affluence. Such data can be used for constructing meaningful and internationally comparable metrics on food waste, such as those for Sustainable Development Goal 12. The d...

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Autores principales: Verma, Monika van den Bos, Vreede, Linda de, Achterbosch, Thom, Rutten, Martine M.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/171382
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author Verma, Monika van den Bos
Vreede, Linda de
Achterbosch, Thom
Rutten, Martine M.
author_browse Achterbosch, Thom
Rutten, Martine M.
Verma, Monika van den Bos
Vreede, Linda de
author_facet Verma, Monika van den Bos
Vreede, Linda de
Achterbosch, Thom
Rutten, Martine M.
author_sort Verma, Monika van den Bos
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description This work provides an internationally comparable consumer food waste dataset based on food availability, energy gap and consumer affluence. Such data can be used for constructing meaningful and internationally comparable metrics on food waste, such as those for Sustainable Development Goal 12. The data suggests that consumer food waste follows a linear-log relationship with consumer affluence and starts to emerge when consumers reach a threshold of approximately $6.70/day/capita level of expenditure. These findings also imply that most empirical models overestimate consumption by not accounting for the possibility of food waste in their analysis. The results also show that the most widely cited global estimate of food waste is underestimated by a factor greater than 2 (214 Kcal/day/capita versus 527 Kcal/day/capita). Comparison with estimates of US consumer food waste based on national survey data shows this approach can reasonably reproduce the results without needing extensive data from national surveys.
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spelling CGSpace1713822025-01-29T12:58:06Z Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste Verma, Monika van den Bos Vreede, Linda de Achterbosch, Thom Rutten, Martine M. sustainable development goals food wastes goal 12 responsible production and consumption food supply This work provides an internationally comparable consumer food waste dataset based on food availability, energy gap and consumer affluence. Such data can be used for constructing meaningful and internationally comparable metrics on food waste, such as those for Sustainable Development Goal 12. The data suggests that consumer food waste follows a linear-log relationship with consumer affluence and starts to emerge when consumers reach a threshold of approximately $6.70/day/capita level of expenditure. These findings also imply that most empirical models overestimate consumption by not accounting for the possibility of food waste in their analysis. The results also show that the most widely cited global estimate of food waste is underestimated by a factor greater than 2 (214 Kcal/day/capita versus 527 Kcal/day/capita). Comparison with estimates of US consumer food waste based on national survey data shows this approach can reasonably reproduce the results without needing extensive data from national surveys. 2020 2025-01-29T12:58:06Z 2025-01-29T12:58:06Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/171382 en Open Access Public Library of Science Verma, Monika van den Bos; Vreede, Linda de; Achterbosch, Thom; and Rutten, Martine M. 2020. Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste. PLoS ONE 15(2): e0228369. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228369
spellingShingle sustainable development goals
food wastes
goal 12 responsible production and consumption
food supply
Verma, Monika van den Bos
Vreede, Linda de
Achterbosch, Thom
Rutten, Martine M.
Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste
title Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste
title_full Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste
title_fullStr Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste
title_full_unstemmed Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste
title_short Consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed: Estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste
title_sort consumers discard a lot more food than widely believed estimates of global food waste using an energy gap approach and affluence elasticity of food waste
topic sustainable development goals
food wastes
goal 12 responsible production and consumption
food supply
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/171382
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