Are food supply chains taking advantage of the circular economy? A research agenda on tackling food waste based on Industry 4.0 technologies

Abstract

This article proposes a means of exploring the use of circular economy (CE) business models to deal with losses and waste in food supply chains. First, the current state-of-the-art application of CE in the food waste area was identified through a systematic literature review. The main findings concerning the current debate around this topic were: (a) the Regenerate and Loop business models are the most studied models in analyzing methods of reuse and recycling of food waste through biological cycles; (b) focal companies and customers are the most often investigated tiers of supply chains; and (c) the investigation of CE and food waste has so far focussed on how to efficiently manage the waste already generated by the system, instead of how to avoid waste generation. Second, in terms of managerial contributions, based on the findings from the systematic literature review, this article proposes an expansion of the application of CE business models to deal with food losses and waste, considering the role of the retail tier, the use of Industry 4.0 technologies and the shift away from the waste reuse approach towards reducing waste generation using CE business models, such as Optimize and Share. Additionally, in terms of academic contributions, this article presents a comprehensive agenda for future research and extends the body of knowledge with regard to the synergy between CE and Industry 4.0 by integrating these two topics with the issue of food waste and loss, a sustainable development target.

Keywords:

• Circular economy
• food waste
• ReSOLVE
• closed-loop
• Industry 4.0

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour

Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour is an Associate Professor at Montpellier Business School, Operations Management. She was a Senior Lecturer within the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK. Before joining the University of Strathclyde she worked for UNESP-Sao Paulo State University, Brazil. Her research interests are operations management for a low carbon economy, circular economy, innovation for sustainable supply chains, and technology for green growth strategy.

Fernanda Cortegoso de Oliveira Frascareli

Fernanda Cortegoso de Oliveira Frascareli is a Researcher at UNESP—The Sao Paulo State University in Brazil. She is dedicated to better understanding sustainable supply chains in emerging economies.

Ernesto D. R. Santibanez Gonzalez

Ernesto D. R. Santibanez Gonzalez is a Senior Professor at Universidad de Talca in Chile and currently works on integrating operational research approaches and disruptive technology to address sustainability and climate changes issues arising in the operations management, supply chain, logistics, energy and manufacturing arena. He was worked on a variety of large-scale fully-funded projects around the world, including Brazil, China and the UK. He has been a leading editor of special issues published by high-impactful journals. From a practical point of view, he integrates OR approaches and blockchain-based disruptive techs to provide decision support systems that can help to solve problems in several industrial sector domains, such as mining, energy, manufacturing, water, and agri-food.

Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour

Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour is an Associate Professor of Sustainable Management, Montpellier Business School. Former Co-Director of the University of Stirling MSc in Strategic Sustainable Business, Scotland, UK. Associate Editor of Journal of Cleaner Production (Elsevier) and area editor of Sustainable Production and Consumption journal (Elsevier). He successfully conducted dozens of fully-funded research projects and an expressive number of Ph.D. students. His research interests are comparative studies between countries in subjects related to sustainability management—particularly the human side of sustainable management, low carbon economy, and strategic sustainable business.