Production efficiency of animal feed obtained from food waste in Japan

Abstract

Converting food waste into animal feed is highly useful for tackling the problem of food waste, which is particularly severe in developed countries. This study quantified the inefficiencies in converting food waste into animal feed and identified the sources of inefficiencies through a data envelopment analysis (DEA) of the monthly input–output data of two food waste–based animal feed producers in Japan. Our empirical analysis revealed that the producers of animal feed obtained from food waste (especially those treating food waste from retail and service industries) demonstrated inefficiencies in production technology and scale; moreover, expanding the production scale and improving the quality of food waste could enhance production efficiency. Based on the empirical results, specific policy implications were provided for the widespread use of animal feed obtained from food waste in Japan and elsewhere, globally. Furthermore, it was suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a severe reduction in the production efficiency of animal feed producers treating food waste obtained from retail and service industries.

Triple Bottom-Line Evaluation of the Production of Animal Feed from Food Waste: A Life Cycle Assessment

“…Approximately 45% of the FW is utilized as animal feed and a similar amount as compost [ 47 , 92 ]. In Japan, more than half of FW is used as animal feed, accumulating to 1.19 M total digestible nutrient tons [ 109 ]. Research indicates that adequate treatment and heating of treated feeds has minimal public health risks [ 127 ].…”

Environmental Impact Assessment of a Solar Drying Unit for the Transformation of Food Waste into Animal Feed

“…Valorization of food waste from the residential and commercial sectors is valuable from the viewpoints of both environmental sustainability and circular bioeconomy [24,25]. Using food waste as an animal feed resource, respecting all the legislative restrictions, would complement food and processing residues already used as animal feed [26]. For countries such as Greece, it is clear that without successful long-term food waste prevention and re-use activities, in order to achieve a notable behavior change in the way people buy and use food, the treatment capacity required to handle food waste will need to increase by more than a factor of two as waste volumes continue to grow.…”

Transforming food waste into animal feeds: an in-depth overview of conversion technologies and environmental benefits

“…Additionally, the volume and consistency of commercial food waste (namely, from the food retail and service industries) are not always consistent, and the nutritional composition of the trash is not always uniform. However, producers of recycled animal feed have surmounted these challenges through innovative thinking, and they have successfully recycled food waste into animal feed at a reasonably low cost (Nakaishi and Takayabu, 2022).…”