The Wasteless research project, in Horizon Europe, proposes to measure, reduce and valorise food losses and waste through a blockchain platform. The recording of material flows allows all operators in the entire agri-food supply chain to 'photograph' their circular economy performance.
Looking ahead, the Wasteless project will allow operators to access a database of positive experiences useful for identifying critical areas in individual supply chains and sectors, measuring and reducing 'Food Loss & Waste' (FLW), as well as an e-commerce platform for enhance their products and co-products, with priority towards short supply chains.
1) Wasteless, the research project
Wasteless (Waste quantification solutions to limit environmental stress) is a research project aimed at developing and testing innovative tools and methods to measure and monitor food waste and waste throughout the supply chain, 'from farm to fork'. (1)
The partners of the research consortium will apply the tools under development to a series of case studies, in various Member States, at different stages of the supply chain (i.e. primary production, transformation, distribution, food service, consumers):
– electronic register based on blockchain system
– technology for identifying foods and their quantities through images
– artificial intelligence system for managing retailer and consumer data
– tool for measuring and managing surpluses
– domestic food waste measuring device.
2) Questionnaire for operators
The operators of the food supply chain are invited to answer a questionnaire and enter data relating to food losses and waste produced in their activities, considering both the incoming materials (input) and the products and other outgoing materials (output) and their respective destinies. (2)
The questionnaire was developed by us WIISE benefits on the basis of the Food Loss and Waste Standard (FLW Standard), as well as a specific report of the Joint Research Center (JRC) and the delegated decision (EU) 2019/1597 which establishes the harmonized methods and minimum quality requirements for measuring and monitoring the food waste in EU member states (3,4,5).
The data, recorded in blockchain, offer operators an overall assessment of their circular economy performance, the costs and benefits of the practices adopted, and the areas of possible improvement. Operators can decide to make this data public, also to use it in their sustainability reports (i.e. CSR, ESG).
3) Concrete solutions, the 'toolbox'
Sharing solutions , concrete measures adopted by operators in various sectors and supply chains, through the answers to the above questionnaires, will allow the development of a database or rather a 'toolbox'.
Each operator will thus be able to learn the solutions adopted and tested by their colleagues, even in other countries and/or in adjacent supply chains, to better enhance the 'side streams' of their productions. Such as for example:
- upcycling of waste in new food ingredients, cosmetics, natural excipients to be used in medicines (6)
– reuse and/or recycling in agriculture and livestock farming or in the production of feed, bioplastics, building materials, textiles, etc.), before
– energy valorisation and waste disposal. With a view to identifying the most suitable solutions to make the most of these materials and compensate for the economic losses that may result.
4) E-commerce
Blockchain technology will also be used to allow virtuous operators who have responded to the questionnaire (see above, paragraph 2) to participate in an e-commerce platform where they can offer their products and co-products, both for sale and free of charge (i.e. in favor of charitable organizations such as food banks).
The e-commerce platform, although international, will favor the identification of the suppliers closest to those carrying out the research, to favor the short supply chains. Also encouraging the sales of pallets or boxes, rather than individual units of products, in order to provide for deliveries of quantities of goods that can justify the environmental costs of transport.
Professional buyers will be able to access the additional information that suppliers decide to record in the blockchain for their qualification (e.g. audit reports on certifications). Consumers in turn will be able to easily distinguish and recognize the value of products (including non-food) derived from reuse and recycling, as well as those certified organic or Ecolabel. (7)
5) Prospects and advantages
The circular economy in the agri-food supply chain is an economic urgency that is still underestimated, as we have seen. (8) Its optimization can make it possible to reduce waste disposal costs and generate new revenues, with favorable implications also from an environmental and social point of view.
European, national and local policies should reward the operators who respond to the above questionnaires (see paragraph 2), since they will at the same time be able to provide quality aggregate data, essential for the statistical analysis on 'Food Loss and Waste' (FLW).
Free participation of operators to testing activities will allow them, among other things, to gain experience with blockchain technology whose use is increasingly being applied in various contexts. Starting from the 'Final Traceability Rule' introduced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to guarantee the safety of some categories of food on the US market. (9)
Dario Dongo and Andrea Adelmo Della Penna
Cover image: 2021 Dr. Sue Pillans, “Picture your ideas” at www.drsuepillans.com.
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo. Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Wasteless, EU research project on circular economy and blockchain. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(2) Operators interested in participating in the questionnaire can write to surveywasteless@gmail.com
(3) See https://www.flwprotocol.org/
(4) De Laurentiis V. et al. (2023) Building a balancing system for food waste accounting at national level – Model updates version 2.0. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2760/374244
(5) Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/1597 of 3 May 2019 supplementing Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards a common methodology and minimum quality requirements for the uniform measurement of levels of food waste. http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_del/2019/1597/oj
(6) Dario Dongo. Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Upcycling of co-products and food waste, brief scientific review. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(7) Hellali W. et al. (2023) Food from waste: The effect of information and attitude towards risk on consumers' willingness to pay. Food Quality and Preference 110:104945, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2023.104945
(8) Dario Dongo, Giulia Pietrollini. Circular economy in agri-food systems, an economic urgency. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Dario Dongo. Agri-food blockchain, from Walmart to the FDA in the USA, Wiise Chain in Italy. To the Web 3. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in Food Technologies and Biotechnologies, qualified food technologist, he follows the research and development area. With particular regard to European research projects (in Horizon 2020, PRIMA) where the FARE division of WIISE Srl, a benefit company, participates.
