scholarly journals The Use of Life Cycle-Based Approaches in the Food Service Sector to Improve Sustainability: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berill Takacs ◽  
Aiduan Borrion
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Food Storage ◽  
Life Cycle Thinking ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Impact Reduction

With the prevalence of eating out increasing, the food service sector has an increasing role in accelerating the transition towards more sustainable and healthy food systems. While life cycle-based approaches are recommended to be used as reference methods for assessing the environmental sustainability of food systems and supply chains, their application in the food service sector is still relatively scarce. In this study, a systematic review was conducted to examine the use and effectiveness of life-cycle based interventions in improving the sustainability of food services. This review found that life-cycle based approaches are not only useful for identifying hotspots for impact reduction, but also for comparing the performance of different sustainability interventions. In particular, interventions targeting the production phase, such as promoting dietary change through menu planning in which high-impact ingredients (e.g., animal products) are replaced with low-impact ingredients (e.g., plant foods), had the highest improvement potential. Interventions targeting other phases of the catering supply chain (e.g., food storage, meal preparation, waste management) had considerably lower improvement potentials. This review article provides valuable insights on how the sustainability of the food service sector can be improved without the burden shifting of impacts, which interventions to prioritise, and where knowledge gaps in research exist. A key recommendation for future research is to focus on combined life cycle thinking approaches that are capable of addressing sustainability holistically in the food service sector by integrating and assessing the environmental, social and economic dimensions of interventions.

Life cycle assessment applied to waste management in Italy: A mini-review of characteristics and methodological perspectives for local assessment

2021 ◽  
pp. 0734242X2110179
Author(s):  
Daniela Camana ◽  
Sara Toniolo ◽  
Alessandro Manzardo ◽  
Mirco Piron ◽  
Antonio Scipioni
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Life Cycle Thinking ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Minimum Requirements

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and related tools are commonly used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of waste treatment scenarios. This manuscript presents a mini-review of studies published over the last 10 years in Italy and aims to investigate how life cycle thinking tools are applied to assess the environmental sustainability of local-level waste policies. Results reveal that different waste flows, technologies and policies have been investigated independently and in varying detail. Review suggests that boundary selection significantly affects LCA results; integration of different waste systems is therefore crucial to avoid spatial or temporal shifts of environmental impacts. Moreover, the description of methodological characteristics, limitations and transversal aspects of Italian waste management studies allows various stakeholders to assess the reliability of past and future research for waste policy planning and rebound effects prevention. This review also highlights the need to define minimum requirements of transparency and ease of reporting of the studies to private and public stakeholders. Finally, the paper investigates whether using both the organisational LCA and the life cycle sustainability approach for the overall waste management process may be useful to develop a standard method to address multi-functionalities and multiple sites.

scholarly journals Present and Future Sustainability Development of 3D Metal Printing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin Anderson ◽  
Selso Gallegos ◽  
Behnaz Rezaie ◽  
Fardad Azarmi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Casting Process ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pump Impeller ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Toxicity Potential

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing is a relatively new concept and promising technology for industrial production. It is important to investigate the environmental impact of the AM process in light of the critical situation of the Earth. The elimination of some costly prefabrication processes such as molding or post-fabrication stages such as machining and welding required in traditional manufacturing methods favor the AM process and provide great economic advantages. Furthermore, the reduction of manufacturing steps contributes to environmental protection through fewer operations, less material, and energy consumption, and reduced transportation. This study is a preliminary work for analyses of environmental impact and life cycle of some well-known AM technologies for manufacturing metallic parts and components. As a case study, fabrication of a pump impeller is simulated through a well-known metal production AM technology and a conventional technology such as a casting process for direct comparison. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is applied to measure the environmental impact in five different stages of pump impeller lifetime with the two different fabrication processes. AM compared to casting has an environmental impact reduction of 15%, 20%, 65%, 20%, and 10% respectively in Global Warming Potential (GWP), Acidifications Potential (AP), Water Aquatic Eco-toxicity Potential (FAETP), Human Toxicity Potential (HTP), and Stratospheric Ozone Depletion (ODP). In the pre-manufacturing stage, the AM process has a higher impact on the environment in comparison with the casting process due to intense electricity consumption. Using hydroelectricity and renewable energy electricity mitigates the environmental impact of the AM process in pre-manufacturing and manufacturing stages as temporary until the advancement of AM technology for consuming less energy. Finally, a plan for future research to enhance the environmental sustainability of the AM process is proposed.

Life Cycle Assessment on Environmental Sustainability of Food Processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Mi Song Chung ◽  
Yiwen Bao ◽  
Bruce Yizhe Zhang ◽  
Thanh Minh Le ◽  
Jen-Yi Huang
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Processing ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Processing Technologies

Food processing represents a critical part of the food supply chain that converts raw materials into safe and nutritious food products with high quality. However, the fast-growing food processing industry has imposed enormous burdens on the environment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used for evaluating the sustainability of food systems; nonetheless, current attention mainly concentrates on the agricultural production stage. This article reviews recent LCA studies on dairy, fruits and vegetables, and beverage products, with a particular emphasis on their processing stage. The environmental impacts of various foods are summarized, and the hotspots in their processing lines as well as potential remediation strategies are highlighted. Moreover, an outlook on the environmental performance of nonthermal processing, modified atmosphere packaging, and active packaging is provided, and future research directions are recommended. This review enables quantitative assessments and comparisons to be made by food manufacturers that are devoted to implementing sustainable processing technologies. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, Volume 13 is March 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Low-Wage Women’s Experiences of Workplace Incivilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 193672442110147
Author(s):  
Katherine Tindell ◽  
Irene Padavic
Keyword(s):  
Customer Service ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Food Service ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
Bank Teller ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Service Representative ◽  
Research And Policy

Workplace incivility, also called bullying, mobbing, and harassment, is pervasive and takes a high toll on employees. This study draws on 18 in-depth interviews with women in the precarious, low-wage, service sector in jobs such as customer service representative, retail sales, food service, pharmacy technician, and bank teller. Women service workers are a particularly vulnerable group, and yet most research on workplace problems of this type focus on professional women’s experience. We find that in this sample, most incivilities came from supervisors, followed by customers and then coworkers. Among supervisors, women were the most common perpetrators, while customer and coworker perpetrators were largely men. The type of incivility varied depending on role: Disparagement was common on the part of supervisors and customers, while coworkers were far more likely to engage in sexual harassment, which was virtually nonexistent among supervisors. Consequences for targets of these incivilities included anxiety, which most had experienced, and income loss. We offer suggestions for future research and policy.

scholarly journals Role of Responsible Leadership for Organizational Citizenship Behavior for the Environment in Light of Psychological Ownership and Employee Environmental Commitment: A Moderated Mediation Model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Abbas ◽  
Bilal Bilal ◽  
Ye Chengang ◽  
Shahid Manzoor ◽  
Irfan Ullah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Citizenship ◽  
Organizational Citizenship Behavior ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Psychological Ownership ◽  
Citizenship Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Responsible Leadership ◽  
Environmental Commitment

The world is looking towards organizations for social responsibility to contribute to a sustainable environment. Employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE) is a voluntary environmental-oriented behavior that is important for organizations’ environmental performance. Based on social learning theory, the study examined the effects of responsible leadership in connection with OCBE by using a sample of 520 employees of manufacturing and service sector including engine manufacturing, petroleum plants banking and insurance sector organizations of China. Further, the role of psychological ownership and employee environmental commitment were used as mediators and moderators simultaneously. The direct, mediation, and moderation model results exposed a positive relationship between responsible leadership and OCBE via employee psychological ownership and employee environmental commitment. The study also revealed that the indirect effect is stronger when employees hold higher employee environmental commitment. The theoretical and practical implications for environmental sustainability in respect of organizations as well as future research directions are discussed.

A review of the infectious agents, parasites, pathogens and commensals of European cockles (Cerastoderma eduleandC. glaucum)

2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Longshaw ◽  
Shelagh K. Malham
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Parasite Species ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Infectious Agents ◽  
Cerastoderma Edule ◽  
Cerastoderma Glaucum ◽  
Burrowing Behaviour ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Population Effects

A systematic review of the parasites, pathogens and commensals of the edible cockle (Cerastoderma edule) and of the lagoon cockle (Cerastoderma glaucum) has been completed. A total of 59 different conditions have been reported throughout the range of both of these hosts; of these 50 have been reported in edible cockles, and 28 in lagoon cockles. Cockles are hosts to viruses, bacteria, fungi (including Microsporidia), Apicomplexa, Amoeba, Ciliophora, Perkinsozoa, Haplosporidia, Cercozoa, Turbellaria, Digenea, Cestoda, Nematoda, Crustacea and Nemertea. A number of these have been reported sporadically although they may be associated with mortalities. In particular, mortalities have been associated predominately with digeneans and some protistan infections. In many cases pathology is marked in affected animals and parasites have been shown to reduce fecundity, alter burrowing behaviour and limit growth. This review provides information on the individual and population effects of these conditions as well as providing suggestions for future research. In particular, there has been a lack of taxonomic rigour applied to many studies and as a result there are a number of erroneous host records. There is a need to re-describe a number of parasite species and to determine the life cycle of those considered to be important mortality drivers.

An examination of ecopreneurs’ incentives through a combination between institutional and resource-based approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis E. Nikolaou ◽  
Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis ◽  
Kyriaki Tasopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Sample Selection ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address two research questions: which are the key factors that stimulate entrepreneurs to invest in ecopreneurship, and how ecopreneurhsip contributes to environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach To answer these questions, a framework has been developed to identify the incentives that lead entrepreneurs to invest in firms in the ecopreneurship through institutional and resource-based thinking. Findings From a survey of 91 Greek firms from the green service sector, it is shown that some specific institutional and resource-based view factors play a critical role in green entrepreneurs’ decisions, as well as some certain environmental practices that are frequently used by entrepreneurs to address environmental issues. Research limitations/implications First, the answer of the second research question through data collected by a questionnaire survey may be faced with skepticism by some authors, as it could be seen that entrepreneurs and managers of firms could have overstated their company's environmental activities. Second, although the sample selection of 91 firms is a representative sample (response rate 12.35 percent) of the total population of Greek green firms (761) and equal to other relative studies, a higher number of firms and a wider variety of green entrepreneurship ventures is necessary in future research. Practical implications The findings are useful for scholars, practitioners and policy makers since it provide information regarding the behavior of green entrepreneurs. Originality/value The paper analyze the types of green entrepreneurs in relation to the different features and strategies which are emerged from two theories, such as institutional and resource-based theory.

scholarly journals Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Table Grape Production in Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Roselli ◽  
Arturo Casieri ◽  
Bernardo Corrado de Gennaro ◽  
Ruggiero Sardaro ◽  
Giovanni Russo
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Table Grape ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Economic Returns ◽  
Table Grapes ◽  
Production Models

In recent years, the environmental sustainability of agri-food systems has become a crucial issue. Agri-food firms are increasingly concerned with the implementation of viable environmentally friendly production processes. The environmental impacts of the table grape sector, as well as other fresh and not transformed food products, involve mainly the farming phase rather than the subsequent conditioning, transportation, packaging, and distribution phases. The purpose of this study was to assess the environmental impacts and the economic viability of three table grapes production models (i.e., early harvesting, normal harvesting, and delayed harvesting), based on the Italian tendone system, during the entire life cycle. The environmental impact analysis was performed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, while the economic analysis was performed using the life cycle costing (LCC) approach. The results show that the early and the delayed production models generated the highest environmental burdens, but also the highest economic returns, compared to the normal harvesting production model. The main determinants of the environmental impacts and economic returns are discussed and some practical recommendations are given to improve the sustainability of all the surveyed production models, so to converge public and private interests.

scholarly journals How Can Sustainable Agriculture Increase Climate Resilience? A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel El Chami ◽  
André Daccache ◽  
Maroun El Moujabber
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Cycle Basis ◽  
Climate Resilience

In the last few decades, a great deal has been written on the use of sustainable agriculture to improve the resilience of ecosystem services to climate change. However, no tangible and systematic evidence exists on how this agriculture would participate in alleviating impacts on vulnerable rural communities. This paper provides a narrative systematic review (SR) integrated with a bibliometric analysis and a concept network analysis to determine how, in this changing climate, sustainable agriculture can increase the resilience of agrosystems. Our search ranged from the date of the first relevant article until the end of 2018. The results generated demonstrated the following: (a) Only single practices and methods have been studied to assess the impacts on single ecosystem services; (b) Soil quality and health are considered a key indicator of sustainable agriculture; (c) Although the assessed practices and methods were shown to improve the biodiversity of agrosystems, which makes them more resilient to extreme climate events, we are still far from developing interdisciplinary and multidimensional agriculture that integrates all management aspects and generates a full range of ecosystem services. In conclusion, this study addressed the following recommendations for the scientific community and policymakers to orient future research strategies and efforts: (a) The integration of all agrosystem services into sustainable management using an ecosystem-based approach on a life-cycle basis using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method; (b) Improving the scientific understanding of traditional knowledge to facilitate greater synergy and further integration; (c) The unification of assessment methods and indicators for the quantification of impacts; (d) The creation of a platform to share, monitor, screen, and approve assessments and evaluations of sustainable agriculture by region.

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