Fighting Food Waste and Saving Energy by improving Household Refrigeration VHK for the European Commission, DG ENER, Unit C.3 Published February 2017 The information and views set out in this presentation are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission
Content VHK in short Introduction Aim of study EU food system EU impacts Refrigerators and food waste Concluding remarks
VHK in short Founded in 1984 Leading technical consultant Ecodesign & Energy Labelling Working on Methodology development, Impact Assessments and Monitoring of standards for wide scope of products (ErP) Headquarters in Delft, NL; facility in Brussels
Introduction Food waste problem Integrate in existing policies EU policy framework Ecodesign & Energy Labelling VHK preparatory study identified opportunities Complementary study: optimal food storage conditions in refrigeration appliances
Aim of study 1. Create complete and consistent picture of EU s food system 2. Explore the link between food waste and household refrigeration appliances Optimizing storage conditions
EU food system Extensive amount of food waste studies E.g. FUSIONS (EU), WRAP (UK), FAO, etc. Issue with quantitative assessment No internationally agreed definition No unique measuring method What we did: Explore the coherence between quantitative data Closed mass-based accounting system
EU food system Imports Non-food (net) Exports Extra end-use input Food purchases TOTAL 485 Mt 2 3 stored or chilled in fridge-freezer 104 73 55 127 24 9 402 EATEN 1/3 of Input Production (post-harvest) 835 103 ~ 20% of Material Resources for Food 291 105 Water 62 110 Losses & Waste process & trade 32 Unavoidable end-use waste 52 Avoidable waste 11% spoilage & bad planning By-products to animal feed Metabolism Unit: Mt Reference years: 2011-2013
Food impacts Impact category Unit EU Food Avoidable enduse food waste % % unit unit of EU unit of EU Domestic Material Consumption Mt 7 300 1 440 20% 158 2.2% Energy, Gross Inland Consumption Mtoe 1 667 283 17% 31 1.9% Greenhouse gas emissions Mt CO 2 eq. 4 548 1 070 24% 118 2.6% Water abstracted for cooling, irrigation and consumption (2007) bn m³ 237 64 27% 7 3.0% Mixed and organic waste collected from private households and food services, excl. sewer, private compost and Mt 215 56 14% 37 17% cooking losses. Private households budget total EU bn euros 7 337 1 517 21% 167 2.3% Budget per private household euros 33 350 6 900 21% 759 2.3%
Comparing impacts Material resources EU Domestic Material Consumption 2011, in Gt Metal ores (other) 0.24 3% Biomass non-food 0.29 4% Metal ores ErP (Ecodesign) 0.03 0.4% Biomass food 1.44 20% Minerals 3.59 49% Fuels ErP (Ecodesign) 0.91 13% Fuels other 0.80 11% Source: Eurostat
Comparing impacts Energy use EU Food energy requirement: 40-50% by Ecodesign regulated ErP hh fridges 7% dishwash small hh app cooking cold store rest cold store hh PACKAGING 11% USE 13% waste disposal EoL 6% diesel Energy for Food 283 Mtoe heating fuels electricity fertiliser AGRICULTURE 33% final transport cold store Red=Ecodesign (30%) Purple= approx. half Ecodesign (29%) Black=no Ecodesign (41%) LOGISTICS 9% 17% gross use* EU-2013 PROCESSING 28% other food ind. pesticide process chillers cold store Sources: JRC; VHK
Comparing impacts Energy use Compare energy consumption EU 2011 in Mtoe/year 925 37 8 798 283 156 127 127 separate common ErP production (metals, plastics, electronics) ErP use-phase (detergents, paper) ErP use-phase (energy resources) Food consumption
Comparing impacts Water use
Comparing impacts GHG s 2000 2000 Mt CO2 eq. 45% of EU total 1800 1600 1400 1200 1732 1070 Mt CO2 eq. 23-24% of EU total 1000 244 Soils & other 800 147 Enteric fermentation 600 80 Manure mangement 400 332 Energy non-food ErP Of which household refrigerator 34 200 0 268 268 Energy food-related non-erp Energy food-related ErP (common) ErP Agri: Food
Comparing impacts - Waste Compare waste in Mt/year (EU 2011-'12) 83 155 52 32 Spoilage & Bad planning end-use waste avoidable 15 8 14 71 end-use waste unavoidable process & retail losses & waste ErP production waste (metals, plastics, electronics) ErP use-phase waste (detergents, paper) ErP combustion waste (51% of total) ErP end-of-life product waste Food consumption
Comparing impacts Household expenses 2011 expenditure of EU households by consumption purpose (COICOP 3 class) per household (2.3 x cap.) Total EU-28 euros/yr billion euros/yr Food 3 680 816 Non-alcoholic beverages 460 84 Alcoholic beverages 460 760 euros 114 Subtotal food & drinks at home 4 600 avoid. waste 1 014 Catering services 2 300 482 Total all food & drinks 6 900 1 496 123 euros Electricity, gas and other fuels (excl. transport) 1 380 refrigerator 319 Household appliances 230 57 Total energy and appliances 1 610 376 Total expenditure (all purposes) 33 350 7 337
Refrigerators and food waste EU Average Food Storage Conditions BAU estimate, in Mt/year Freezer 36 Room 161 sl ** * pizza napoli Fridge, always 115 Fridge, temp. 59 Room, temp. 115 cre am m ar ga b u t r hh level ±13 kg/week Cold 210 Room 276
Prolonging the preservation period AVERAGE 8 11 5 Fresh juice 4 4 Bread & pastry 4 20 Dairy (cheese) & Eggs Meat & Fish 4 15 18 8 NOW days BETTER extra days BEST extra days Fruit 5 6 12 Vegetables 7 6 16 0 10 20 30 Minimum days without spoilage Note that BEST only applies to optimisation for certain types of fruit (apples, pears) and vegetables (onions, carrots), which already have a long shelf-life. In that sense BETTER is probably the more realistic option. In Dairy, the storage conditions for cheese can be considerably improved; for fresh milk and other dairy products the current conditions are optimal (NOW=BEST).
Food-optimised refrigerator design Refrigerator for lower food waste Litres occupied fridge space (average) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 20% of fridge occupied (37L)* 37 27% of fridge occupied (49L)* 7.5 8.4 13.9 11.8 5.2 10.3 13.9 14.1 7.6 8.6 NOW BETTER BEST 29% of fridge occupied (52L)* pantry (17 C) cellar (8-14 C, 12 C) fresh food (4 C) salad-chiller (2 C) chiller (-1 C) *=relates to average EU refrigerator (182 L), food excl. leftovers
Food-optimised refrigerator design Factor 2 oversized Significant technical (30-40%) and economic (18-20%) saving potential New energy saving possibilities e.g. cascading and re-use waste cold A saving of 1-2% on end-use food waste compensates 20% higher energy use fridge
Concluding remarks Improved fridge design, expanding temperature compartments Increase average shelf life with factor of 2 to 3 Further research recommended, e.g. field study Multi-door correction factor for fridges in Ecodesign & Energy Labelling policy Harmonisation of setting use-by dates ** *** (-12 C) till 01.02.2017 (-18 C) till 01.08.2017
Thank you for your attention Full report at www.ecodesign-fridges.eu/pages/documents.aspx
Detailed food flow diagram Household Refrigeration & Food Waste ( EU 2011, in Mt) Crop import & stock change Import1 83 25 18 1 4 18 17 103 Sugarbeets 125 Oilcrops&nuts 64 Potatoes 57 (+5) Vegetables 67 Fruit 79 Cereals 268 Forage 233 (+1) (+10) (dry hay equivalent) Byproducts & misc. 128 Recycling to animal feed Crop pre-processing, partitioning & export Veg. non food & animal feed 88 12 13 2 7 7 Export1 40 7 33 13 233 5 7 30 30 30 34 38 60 68 67 87 88 51 38 oilcake & residue Veg. non-food: 86 Veg. oil: 9 output s : biofuel 11, synt.alcohol 2, starch, soap, etc. Sugar: 5 Net 55 Mt after return w aste to food Sugarbeets dry 30 Oilcrop 34 Potatoes 38 Vegetables 60 Fruit 68 Cereal 67 Compound feed in 175 output 158 233 Forage (dry hay equivalent) 25 6 farm animal output 206 Own cereal feed (excl. fis h) Bought straight fd Metabolism 291 Processing, wholesale & product imports Import2 21 Sugar 19 Oil 10 & nuts 4 Potatoes 28 Vegetables 54 Fruit 52 Cereal 52 Meat 45 Fish 6 Milk 140 Eggs 7 2 6 10 6 20 16 15 44 (+14) 8 46 6 31 4 20 11 5 4 2 hides, wool 5 4 9 Animal non-food 21 output: leather, wool, solid fuel, etc. 6 38 7 17 48 36 21 12 32 9 45 Retail & product exports Export2 15 3 2 6 3 4 8 2 4 2 22 6 38 9 13 19 67 9 Icecream: 3 kg 6 3 21 10 31 2 17 2 3 27 6 14 7 5 2 10 6 1 19 incl. charity 2 17 12 8 2 3 sl * * Private households & food services 358 own compost & pets 7 softdrinks+ min. water 106 unavoidable avoidable 32 52 Disposal End-user 84 15 bio waste 286 incl. beer, wine & juice Process & retail waste: 71 freezer 35 fridge 131 16 small flows not shown (purchase 21) 98 16 9 17 35 11 11 18 40 34 25 6 61 3 40 32 12 485 40 9 12 sewage 41 serve chilled beer, juice white wine 52 softdrinks+ min. water 106 mixed waste cupboard 161 Intake 402 solids & milk 230 beverages 172 softdrinks spill/spoil (8) small flow waste (4) 12 cooking losses & spills 11% waste The diagram contains main feed and food flows. Flows <0.5 Mt are not shown and thus rounded figures will not always match. Pre-harvest & pre-slaughter waste is excluded. Flows of softdrinks (ca. 50), bottled mineral waters (56) and some non-perishable small flows ( cacao 5, sauce & spices 4, salt 3, sweeteners 2.5, coffee 2.2, spirits 1.4, babyfood 1.1, vinegar, tea 1 0.4, etc. ) are only listed at end-use. Vegetables includes pulses (beans, peas, etc.). Oilcrops includes treenuts. Fish includes ustaceans cr and molusks. Output used for seeds or own use is in brackets. Consumption off tapwater is not included in the end-use. Irrigation water (62 Gt), other farm wate r use (2 Gt), fertiliser (19 Mt), manure (12Mt), pesticide(0.2 ), energy (283 Mtoe) are also not ncluded i here Mt. Source: VHK based on elaboration of data from FAO, Eurostat, EFSA, food waste studies by WRAP, ISWA, CREM and others. Copyright VHK 2016 for the European Commission.