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Social and environmental analysis of food waste abatement via the peer-to-peer sharing economy

Author

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  • Tamar Makov

    (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
    Yale University)

  • Alon Shepon

    (Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

  • Jonathan Krones

    (Boston College)

  • Clare Gupta

    (University of California Davis)

  • Marian Chertow

    (Yale University)

Abstract

Reducing food waste is widely recognized as critical for improving resource efficiency and meeting the nutritional demand of a growing human population. Here we explore whether the sharing economy can provide meaningful assistance to reducing food waste in a relatively low-impact and environmentally-sound way. Analyzing 170,000 postings on a popular peer-to-peer food-sharing app, we find that over 19 months, 90t of food waste with an equivalent retail value of £0.7 million were collected by secondary consumers and diverted from disposal. An environmental analysis focused on Greater London reveals that these exchanges were responsible for avoiding emission of 87–156t of CO2eq. Our results indicate that most exchanges were among users associated with lower income yet higher levels of education. These findings, together with the high collection rates (60% on average) suggest that the sharing economy may offer powerful means for improving resource efficiency and reducing food waste.

Suggested Citation

  • Tamar Makov & Alon Shepon & Jonathan Krones & Clare Gupta & Marian Chertow, 2020. "Social and environmental analysis of food waste abatement via the peer-to-peer sharing economy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-14899-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14899-5
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    Cited by:

    1. Sylvain Weber & Martin Péclat & August Warren, 2022. "Travel distance and travel time using Stata: New features and major improvements in georoute," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 22(1), pages 89-102, March.
    2. Wang, Feiyang & Shreedhar, Ganga & Galizzi, Matteo M & Mourato, Susana, 2022. "A take-home message: workplace food waste interventions influence household pro-environmental behaviors," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115762, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Do, Quynh & Ramudhin, Amar & Colicchia, Claudia & Creazza, Alessandro & Li, Dong, 2021. "A systematic review of research on food loss and waste prevention and management for the circular economy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    4. Jun Igeta & Hiroki Nakamura, 2022. "Business Incentive to Reduce Food Losses in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-19, February.
    5. Tamar Meshulam & David Font‐Vivanco & Vered Blass & Tamar Makov, 2023. "Sharing economy rebound: The case of peer‐to‐peer sharing of food waste," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 882-895, June.
    6. Zhang, Yufei & Chen, Jiayin & Han, Yi & Qian, Mengxi & Guo, Xiaona & Chen, Ruishan & Xu, Di & Chen, Yi, 2021. "The contribution of Fintech to sustainable development in the digital age: Ant forest and land restoration in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    7. Caroline Ruiner, 2021. "Voluntary Work in Digital Contexts as Gift Exchange," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-13, November.
    8. Lucas, Benjamin & Francu, R. Elena & Goulding, James & Harvey, John & Nica-Avram, Georgiana & Perrat, Bertrand, 2021. "A Note on Data-driven Actor-differentiation and SDGs 2 and 12: Insights from a Food-sharing App," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    9. Akbari, Morteza & Foroudi, Pantea & Khodayari, Maryam & Zaman Fashami, Rahime & Shahabaldini parizi, Zahra & Shahriari, Elmira, 2022. "Sharing Your Assets: A Holistic Review of Sharing Economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 604-625.
    10. Esra Kabaklarlı, 2022. "Green FinTech: sustainability of Bitcoin," Digital Finance, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 265-273, December.
    11. Dan Wang & Liang Yan & Fangli Ruan & Xiaohuang Zeng, 2022. "An Abductive Analysis of Debates on the Impact of the Sharing Economy: A Systematic Review in a Sustainable Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-28, March.

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