Doctoral Researcher Gale gafi Ehsan

Advancing the recycling methods in Finnish food sectors

Tieteellinen tutkimus / siihen pohjautuva työ | Kolmivuotinen

Thousands of tons of food are wasted in Finland every year. Recycling this food and reusing it as a raw material is equal to creating value through new sources for the supply chain which can contribute significantly to tangible sustainability issues that food businesses and the Finnish society faces today. Some measures are taken at different levels of the food supply chains. For example, in the bread supply chain, Fazer in Vantaa invested in recycling machine to reuse the surplus dough to make new bread. In Kotka, Lantmännen recycles waste bread into ethanol, animal feed and carbonic acid. And many Finnish bakeries have taken the initiative and have tried to be aware of inventory levels in the stores online and plan production based on it. But there is a big question: What strategies yield the most favorable environmental outcomes when it comes to food recycling, and what implications do these approaches hold for business profitability? This study aims to develop and optimize three models for bread, chicken, and vegetable closed-loop supply chains with focus on recycling and sustainability criteria. The methodology of system dynamics is used for modeling, and for comparing the performance of different pricing, packaging, inventory control, warehousing, and recycling options.