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A critical review of methodological aspects influencing life cycle assessment results of food waste reduction strategies.

R.M.N.S. Ranundeniya,P. Stasinopoulos,N. Shiwakoti,Simon Lockrey

Published 2025 in Journal of Environmental Management

ABSTRACT

Food waste (FW) is a global challenge with severe environmental, social, and economic consequences, demanding immediate and effective reduction strategies. FW prevention, redistribution, reuse for animals, and valorisation are promising strategies to reduce FW generation. Life cycle assessment (LCA) serves as a key decision-support tool for identifying environmentally optimal FW reduction strategies; however, such studies exhibit significant variation in methodological approaches. Currently, there is a lack of studies that systematically review methodological aspects and their influence on LCA results. While many studies focus on one or a few methodological aspects, few have provided a holistic assessment that spans multiple FW reduction strategies. This study aims to fill that knowledge gap by reviewing methodological aspects that influence the results of FW reduction LCAs, with a focus on climate change impact, by analysing 101 articles from scholarly and grey literature published between 2012 and 2024. One hundred and six FW reduction strategies were recorded, 72 % of the strategies focused on FW prevention and valorisation. The bibliographic analysis indicates that Europe leads in the application of LCAs for FW reduction strategies. Most studies have focused on FW generated from the processing, retail, and household stages of the food supply chain. The meta-analysis indicates that decisions made during the goal and scope definition and life cycle inventory phases have a significant influence on the LCA results. Key aspects in the goal and scope definition phase include the selection of functional unit(s) and activities included within the system boundary, particularly the transportation of FW, avoided products in attributional LCA models, and consumer behaviour and implementation measures for FW prevention. In the life cycle inventory phase, the choice of the LCA model, the upstream and downstream allocation methods, and the composition of FW are critical. Despite the study's limitations, this study provides recommendations to improve the consistency, comparability, and reliability of LCAs focused on FW reduction strategies. Future research can extend this analysis to other impact categories, such as land use, water use, and biodiversity, through quantitative meta-analysis as more data become available.

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