Eighteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

The overall recycling rate in Japan’s food sector in 2013 was 85%. However, recycling rates differ depending on the industry type; for example, the recycling rate was 95% in the food manufacturing industry but only 45% in the food retail industry. Policy support is necessary to improve the recycling rate, but there is a lack of case studies regarding food waste recycling within food retail. In this paper, we examine a case study on food waste recycling within food retail to determine the hurdles in improving the recycling rate and make recommendations for policy makers. We analyze a recycling loop between the food retailer, recycling supplier, and farmhouses in Shikoku, Japan. A recycling loop is built for circulating food waste as resources, and operates through cooperation between recycling suppliers, actors in the agriculture/forestry/fishery sector, and food retailers. In the recycling loop we analyze, the recycling supplier receives food waste from the retailer, composts it, and distributes it for free to local farmhouses. This loop is currently being successfully implemented, but there were many barriers to overcome. Through an analysis of this case, we clarify the barriers to food waste recycling within food retail, discuss how they are overcome, and provide policy recommendations to improve the recycling rate in the food retail industry.