Call for Papers of Virtual Special Issue on Food Waste: Multidisciplinary Efforts towards UN Sustainable Development Goals Target 12.3

Food losses and food waste (FLW) has become a worldwide problem in recent years and is widely identified as a key barrier to global sustainability (Xue et al. 2017). Consequently, reduction of FLW has emerged as a priority on the global, regional, and national sustainability agenda. In particular, the United Nations (UN) have adopted a specific target in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to halve per-capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains by 2030 (Target 12.3).

A growing body of literature and research has transpired in recent years addressing food waste issues from different disciplines with various approaches across the world. A collective and comprehensive understanding of the technology perspectives (Holsteijn and Kemna 2018), socioeconomic drivers (Thyberg and Tonjes 2016), legislative framework, valorisation options (Vandermeersch et al. 2014), and economic and environmental impacts (Brancoli et al. 2017) of FLW would help track progress on reduction targets, benchmark and prioritise intervention strategies, and ultimately help achieve the SDG target on food waste.

The main objective of this Virtual Special Issue (VSI) of Resources, Conservation, and Recycling is to put together a comprehensive set of articles from multiple disciplines such as food sciences, agricultural economics, waste management, environmental engineering, behavior economics, and consumer psychology on the quantification, drivers, reduction, valorisations, and impacts of FLW. We invite submissions of novel and original papers that report new empirical findings as well as review articles integrating existing bodies of research and providing new insights.

Topics

Topics of interest for this VSI include, but not limited to, the following:

• Empirical studies on food waste quantification in different cities, countries, and regions, at different stages (e.g., production, retailing, and consumption) of the agri-food chain, and for different focus consumer groups and settings (e.g., household, restaurant, and canteens)
• Characterisation of the social, economic, health, and environmental impacts of food waste generation and management
• Consumer response in relation to food waste generation, handling, reuse, and by-product valorization
• Behavioural economic approaches and (field or lab) experiments examining the effectiveness of interventions aimed at food waste prevention, reduction, and valorization at both business and consumer levels
• The role of different stakeholders (e.g. companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), and governmental agencies) in reducing food waste, for example via supply chain design, consumer campaigns, and corporate social responsibility
• Studies devoted to innovative management alternatives for dealing with consumer food waste and identification and promotion of pathways and solutions that are more sustainable than the prevailing options of composting or anaerobic digestion
• Technical (e.g., IT and digital solutions) innovation for food waste prevention and minimization, and their potentials, barriers, and business models
• Evaluation of targeted policy interventions directly addressing food waste prevention, recycling, and reuse, and broader policy strategies addressing food waste prevention, recycling, and reuse in the context of sustainable food systems
• Systematic reviews of previous studies that summarize our state of knowledge and propose future directions on food waste research

 

More information and details for submissions of papers at: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling/call-for-papers/virtual-special-issue-on-food-waste-sustainable-development