High-value food waste valorisation in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area

Abstract

The unprecedented major scale and rapid rate of urban growth put an increasing pressure on natural resources for providing energy, materials, and food- and nutrition security. Likewise, an alarming major increase can be witnessed in the generation of food waste (FW) in urban areas. While megacities contribute to 6.7% of the global population, 12.6% of global waste disposal can be attributed to them1. 30 to 50% of produced food is never consumed, and FW constitutes 25 to 30% of municipal solid waste in high-income countries which is expected to grow 35% until 20252. One of these high-income, highly urbanized areas is the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA), where the related impacts of FW treatment create important environmental and socio-economic challenges that demand optimisation in terms of reduced environmental impacts and enhanced resource recovery. The AMA poses an interesting case study with high ambitions for a circular economy in relation to organic and biobased resources, yet a comprehensive regional strategy for circular and sustainable FW waste treatment remains uncomposed, while effective FW prevention does not emerge. Especially with regard to techniques that obtain more high-value, circular products as aimed for by the Dutch government. Only few studies investigate these high-value techniques, and more importantly lack to demonstrate the role of governance in the socio-technical transition that is required, and the impact it has on the main actors in the current system, as it requires a change from a systems perspective. Therefore, this research applies a two-dimensional nexus governance approach specific to the context of three high-value valorisation techniques in the AMA that use fermentation technologies for fatty acids production (i.e. Chaincraft for feed additives, Amsterdam Green Campus for food additives, and the FABULOUS-project for bioplastics). It investigates how these technologies could contribute to more circular and sustainable FW valorisation. This is respectively analysed by means of a socio-technical analysis and social network analysis, including a baseline study of available FW flows and an environmental assessment (EA) of the investigated technologies.