From the article: Blockchain technology may have the potential to fundamentally change society and we might currently witness the dawn of a cryptographically secured trust-free transactions economy. One relatively unexplored application domain is waste management. Incorrect waste management practices may lead to illegal pollution or enable fraudulent transactions. Using a design science approach, we formulate problem areas and evaluate the applicableness of using a blockchain solution to mitigate the problems identified. Our results indicate that it is important that the organization and its infrastructure is prepared for the use of blockchain. There are several conditional challenges that must be overcome to realize blockchain technology’s full potential. Further research is needed in order to grasp a full understanding about the situations in which blockchain technology is beneficial or not.
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In this masterclass, Suzanne Klein-Gebbink, program manager of Circular Living Lab Food Valley and Lector Eric de Bruin from Aeres explain about food waste in practice: when is food wasted, why we should reduce it and how value can be created from food waste using the ladder of Lansink, which shows the value hierarchy of what we can do with food waste. Together Eric and Suzanne show examples of projects that look at different ways of creating value from food waste.
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This research contributes to understanding and shaping systems for OFMSW separation at urban Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs, such as offices, shops and service providers). Separating SMEs’ organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is both an opportunity and a serious challenge for the transition towards circular cities. It is an opportunity because OFMSW represents approximately 40% of the total waste mass generated by these companies. It is challenging because post-collection separation is not feasible for OFMSW. Therefore, SMEs disposing of waste should separate their solid waste so that processing the organic fraction for reuse and recycling is practical and attainable. However, these companies do not experience direct advantages from the extra efforts in separating waste, and much of the OFMSW ends up in landfills, often resulting in unnecessary GHG emissions. Therefore, governments and waste processors are looking for ways to improve the OFMSW separation degree by urban companies disposing of waste through policies for behaviour change.There are multiple types of personnel at companies disposing of waste. These co-workers act according to their values, beliefs and norms. They adapt their behaviour continuously, influenced by the physical environment, events over time and self-evaluation of their actions. Therefore, waste separation at companies can be regarded as a Socio-Technical Complex Adaptive System (STCAS). Agent-based modelling and simulation are powerful methods to help understand STCAS. Consequently, we have created an agent-based model representing the evolution of behaviour regarding waste separation at companies in the urban environment. The model aims to show public and private stakeholders involved in solid waste collection, transport and processing to what extent behaviour change policies can shape the system towards desired waste separation degrees.We have co-created the model with participants utilising literature and empirical data from a case study on the transition of the waste collection system of a business park located at a former harbour area in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. First, a conceptual model of the system and the environment was set up through participatory workshops, surveys and interviews with stakeholders, domain experts and relevant actors. Together with our case participants, five policies that affect waste separation behaviour were included in the model. To model the behaviour of each company worker’s values, beliefs and norms during the separation and disposal of OFMSW, we have used the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) Theory by Stern et al. (1999). We have collected data on waste collection behaviour and separation rates through interviews, workshops and a literature study to operationalise and validate the model.Simulation results show how combinations of behaviour profiles affect waste separation rates. Furthermore, findings show that single waste separation policies are often limitedly capable of changing the behaviour in the system. Rather, a combination of information and communication policies is needed to improve the separation of OFMSW, i.e., dissemination of a newsletter, providing personal feedback to the co-workers disposing of waste, and sharing information on the (improvement of) recycling rates.This study contributes to a better understanding of how policies can support co-workers’ pro-environmental behaviour for organic waste separation rates at SMEs. Thus, it shows policymakers how to stimulate the circular transition by actively engaging co-workers’ waste separation behaviour at SMEs. Future work will extend the model’s purpose by including households and policies supporting separating multiple waste types aimed at various R-strategies proposed by Potting et al. (2016).
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It is of utmost importance to collect organic waste from households as a separate waste stream. If collected separately, it could be used optimally to produce compost and biogas, it would not pollute fractions of materials that can be recovered from residual waste streams and it would not deteriorate the quality of some materials in residual waste (e.g. paper). In rural areas with separate organic waste collection systems, large quantities of organic waste are recovered. However, in the larger cities, only a small fraction of organic waste is recovered. In general, citizens dot not have space to store organic waste without nuisances of smell and/or flies. As this has been the cause of low organic waste collection rates, collection schemes have been cut, which created a further negative impact. Hence, additional efforts are required. There are some options to improve the organic waste recovery within the current system. Collection schemes might be improved, waste containers might be adapted to better suit the needs, and additional underground organic waste containers might be installed in residential neighbourhoods. There are persistent stories that separate organic waste collection makes no sense as the collectors just mix all municipal solid waste after collection, and incinerate it. Such stories might be fuelled by the practice that batches of contaminated organic waste are indeed incinerated. Trust in the system is important. Food waste is often regarded as unrein. Users might hate to store food waste in their kitchen that could attract insects, or the household pets. Hence, there is a challenge for socio-psychological research. This might also be supported by technology, e.g. organic waste storage devices and measures to improve waste separation in apartment buildings, such as separate chutes for waste fractions. Several cities have experimented with systems that collect organic wastes by the sewage system. By using a grinder, kitchen waste can be flushed into the sewage system, which in general produces biogas by the fermentation of sewage sludge. This is only a good option if the sewage is separated from the city drainage system, otherwise it might create water pollution. Another option might be to use grinders, that store the organic waste in a tank. This tank could be emptied regularly by a collection truck. Clearly, the preferred option depends on local conditions and culture. Besides, the density of the area, the type of sewage system and its biogas production, and the facilities that are already in place for organic waste collection are important parameters. In the paper, we will discuss the costs and benefits of future organic waste options and by discussing The Hague as an example.
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Purpose: Food waste occurs in every stage of the supply chain, but the value-added lost to waste is the highest when consumers waste food. The purpose of this paper is to understand the food waste behaviour of consumers to support policies for minimising food waste. Design/methodology/approach: Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a theoretical lens, the authors design a questionnaire that incorporates contextual factors to explain food waste behaviour. The authors test two models: base (four constructs of TPB) and extended (four constructs of TPB plus six contextual factors). The authors build partial least squares structural equation models to test the hypotheses. Findings: The data confirm significant relationships between food waste and contextual factors such as motives, financial attitudes, planning routines, food surplus, social relationships and Ramadan. Research limitations/implications: The data comes from an agriculturally resource-constrained country: Qatar. Practical implications: Food waste originating from various causes means more food should flow through the supply chains to reach consumers’ homes. Contextual factors identified in this work increase the explanatory power of the base model by 75 per cent. Social implications: Changing eating habits during certain periods of the year and food surplus have a strong impact on food waste behaviour. Originality/value: A country is considered to be food secure if it can provide its citizens with stable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The findings and conclusions inform and impact upon the development of food waste and food security policies.
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The EU-28’s food service sector generates excessive amounts of food waste. This notwithstanding, no comparative, cross-national research has ever been undertaken to understand how food waste is managed in restaurants across the EU-28. This study contributes to knowledge by presenting a first attempt to conduct a comparative analysis of restaurant food waste management practices in the UK and the Netherlands. It finds that although restaurateurs in both countries use demand forecasting as a prime approach to prevent food waste, forecasting does not always work. When this happens, food waste management programmes such as repurposing excess foodstuffs, redistribution of surplus food and consumer choice architecture are mostly considered commercially unviable. To improve the effectiveness of food waste management in the food service sectors of the UK and the Netherlands it is necessary to ensure that food waste mitigation becomes a corporate target for restaurateurs and the progress towards its achievement is regularly monitored by top management. This corporate commitment should be facilitated by national policy-makers, but also by EU regulators, by raising consumer awareness of food waste, incentivising surplus food redistribution and enabling food waste recycling.
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Background and aim ʹ Many countries signed the Paris Agreement to mitigate global average temperature rise. In this context, Dutch government decided to realize a reduction of 50% using resources and raw materials in 2030. This paper explores how practice-based research into facility operations can contribute to this aim. Methods / Methodology ʹ Practice-based research which includes direct observations, desk research, and participatory action research. Results ʹ This explorative research presents principles and suggestions for facility managers and procurement managers on how they can embed sustainable materials management in the organisation and how to take control of waste. The proposed suggestions are derived from practice-based research and presented as topics of attention for facility professionals. Originality ʹ Within education of Dutch universities of applied sciences and daily professional facility practices, the phenomenon of materials management is underexposed. To contribute to the national and international climate objectives, (future) facility professionals need better support to reduce waste. Bachelor students were involved throughout this research. This approach gave refreshing insights into waste at the end of the supply chain (control separation units) that can improve informed decisionmaking at the beginning of the supply chain. Practical or social implications ʹ Facility management professionals have an important role to play in the mitigation of global average temperature rise, because of their leading role in procurement, service operations, and materials management. However, they struggle to find sustainable solutions. This paper seeks to inspire professionals with interventions that have proven effectiveness on the reduction of waste. Type of paper ʹ Short research paper.
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This study explores waste management literacy among secondary school communities in Tangerang City, Indonesia, using the Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior (KAB) model within the 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) framework. Employing a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design, the research integrates quantitative data from 357 participants including principals, teachers, staff, and students from seven schools near the Rawa Kucing Landfill, with qualitative insights from follow up interviews. This study was applied to multiple regression and correlation analyses to evaluate relationships between knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Results show that while knowledge positively influences behavior, attitude unexpectedly correlates negatively, revealing an attitude-behaviorgap. Although respondents generally hold positive attitudes toward waste management, these attitudes do not consistently translate into active engagement. The study’s qualitative phase uses interviews to identify barriers contributing to this gap, uncovering individual, social, and structural obstacles such as inadequate facilities and established waste practices that hinder effective waste management. Advocating for a comprehensive approach, the study recommends providing schools with 3R bins and training, sustainable behavior modeling by teachers, alignment of municipal waste collection with school efforts, family reinforcement of waste practices, and curricular integration of waste management. This coordinated approach seeks to bridge the attitude-behavior gap and promote sustainable waste practices across school communities in Tangerang City.
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‘Never waste a good crisis.’ Deze uitspraak schijnt Winston Churchill te hebben gedaan om aan te geven dat het ontstaan van de Verenigde Naties te danken was aan de periode daarvoor: de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De auteurs vatten een aantal conclusies samen die zijn getrokken op basis van diverse studies, waaronder een masterthesis onderzoek (Bronneberg, 2019) naar de historie van Brainport Eindhoven en de geleerde lessen die daaruit zijn op te maken.
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One behavioural intervention that can help increase the opportunity to separate organic waste is offering a organic waste bin and bags. But which type of bin is best to offer to residents, do you give a choice or not, and how can you best manage the distribution? We tried to answer these questions through a study on the use of organic waste bins in the Netherlands.
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