Sharing economy rebound: The case of peer‐to‐peer sharing of food waste

Abstract

The Sharing Economy is commonly assumed to promote sustainable consumption and improve material efficiency through better utilization of existing product stocks. Yet the cost-savings and convenience of using sharing economy platforms can ultimately stimulate additional demand for products and services. As a result, some or even all of the expected environmental benefits attributed to sharing could be negated, a phenomenon known as Rebound Effect. Relying on a unique dataset covering close to 1.1 million exchanges on a Peer-to-Peer (P2P), food sharing platform, we use a combination of Environmentally Extended Input Output analysis (EEIO), geo-spatial network analysis, and econometric modeling to quantify how much of the expected environmental benefits attributed to sharing are negated via rebound effects. We find that over the 3 years examined, sharing edible yet unwanted food with other peers was associated with nearly 1,800 tons of avoided CO2-eq. However, our results suggest that over 80% of these avoided emissions were negated as platform users re-spent the money saved by sharing on other goods and services. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the potential implications rebound effects might have on the efficacy of leveraging the sharing economy to elevate environmental burdens.

Mobile applications to reduce food waste in supply chains: a systematic literature review

“…Some authors question the ability of FWMAs to curb food waste significantly. Mathisen and Johansen (2022) reported no significant impact of FWMAs on the quantity of food waste, and Meshulam et al (2023) find that FWMAs had negative environmental externalities. However, both studies used small samples; expanding them to include more cases and more interviews with participants would make it possible to draw more convincing conclusions.…”

“…An FWMA called OLIO and data from seven scenarios were used to analyze whether food-sharing behavior would result in higher environmental impact and if there was a rebound effect (Meshulam et al, 2023). The authors found that a portion of the potential environmental benefits could be offset by the rebound effect from sharing.…”

The sharing economy is not always greener: a review and consolidation of empirical evidence

“…Second, sharing often saves users money which they then typically re-spend on additional products and services, a phenomenon referred to as respending or indirect rebound effect (Meshulam et al 2023). The rebound effect can occur when platform users save money (by collecting free food for example) and then use these savings to buy other things (Druckman et al 2011, Makov and Font Vivanco 2018, Sorrell et al 2020.…”

Leveraging collaborations to increase the impact of food sharing platforms

“…, 2021). Furthermore, although the wide range of positive effects of these platforms has been extensively demonstrated (de Almeida Oroski and da Silva, 2022), some scholars have pointed out that rebound effects could limit the potential to achieve meaningful reductions in environmental burdens through sharing (Meshulam et al. , 2022).…”

“…The analysis of the nature and flow of food exchange between users of varying income levels neither indicates that these platforms are able to redistribute food across income categories nor are they a useful solution in mitigating food insecurity (Makov et al, 2020(Makov et al, , 2023Nica-Avram et al, 2021). Furthermore, although the wide range of positive effects of these platforms has been extensively demonstrated (de Almeida Oroski and da Silva, 2022), some scholars have pointed out that rebound effects could limit the potential to achieve meaningful reductions in environmental burdens through sharing (Meshulam et al, 2022).…”