Marco Formentini, Luca Secondi, Luca Ruini, Matteo Guidi and Ludovica Principato
There is a limited understanding of effective strategies for tackling food loss and waste (FLW) following a circular supply chain management approach. The aim of this study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a limited understanding of effective strategies for tackling food loss and waste (FLW) following a circular supply chain management approach. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of the FLW Reporting and Accounting Standard for identifying FLW occurrences throughout the agri-food supply chain and facilitate their measurement. Our objective is to describe how this FLW is then reused within a circular economy (CE) perspective, thus enabling companies to implement a circular supply chain approach for effective decision-making based on the concept of waste hierarchies, the 3R and 4R rules.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth analysis of Barilla's soft bread supply chain is provided in this study. By gathering both qualitative and quantitative data, this study investigates the implementation of the FLW standard by (1) identifying the main enablers and obstacles in measuring FLW throughout the entire production system; (2) providing a useful standardized tool for sustainable FLW measurement, minimization and reuse in other agricultural supply chains to enable circular economy approaches and (3) developing a decision-support strategy to use within the company for effective measurement, analysis and reuse according to a CE perspective.
Findings
The analyses carried out throughout Barilla's soft wheat bread supply chain provide an interesting example of a circular management system since almost nothing is lost or wasted while the value of resources is recovered through reuse thanks to a systematic and integrated measurement, representing a basis for effectively minimizing waste. The importance of developing an interconnected supply chain management emerged in order to obtain a comprehensive accounting framework for accurately quantifying and reporting the overall amount of wastage generated in the various phases of food production, paying particular attention to ex ante prevention initiatives and ex-post assessment actions.
Originality/value
An interdisciplinary approach integrating circular economy and supply chain management research streams was adopted in order to develop a decision-support tool that also includes the identification of the main facilitators and obstacles to the implementation of a comprehensive standardized accounting process that would enable companies to reduce-reuse-recycle losses and waste throughout the entire production process. Besides the studies available in the literature, the original of this study is that it focuses on organizational implications related to FLW measurement.
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Luca Secondi, Ludovica Principato and Giovanni Mattia
Halving food waste has been included within the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Food wasted out-of-home is the second source of food waste. However, the majority of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Halving food waste has been included within the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Food wasted out-of-home is the second source of food waste. However, the majority of the studies have focused on home generated food waste, and still little is known about out-of-home food waste and how it is managed by food service companies. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a double perspective in analyzing food waste generated at a food service level, by focusing on both the client and business perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
First, from the client perspective, the authors aim at analyzing consumer out-of-home habits, self-reported waste quantification, and doggy bag usage by reporting the results of an exploratory survey which involved 411 individuals living in central Italy. Second, from a business perspective, the authors analyzed an award-winning practice that manages out-of-home food waste in Italy by combining food surplus management and digital solutions with a profitable business model innovation.
Findings
Results obtained from the two perspectives of analysis support the need of business investments in innovations and digital solutions, in order to meet client needs and behavior, thus contributing to better manage and reduce food surplus and waste.
Practical implications
This study will raise practitioners’ knowledge on the advantages of digital solution in food surplus management, along with a better comprehension on food waste behavior from the client perspective.
Originality/value
This is the first study that analyses out-of-home waste from both the client and business perspective, emphasizing how digital solutions can help in reducing the phenomenon.
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Ludovica Principato, Luca Secondi and Carlo Alberto Pratesi
The purpose of this paper is to assess the knowledge of youths concerning food waste as well as to identify factors that influence changes in behaviour concerning food wasted and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the knowledge of youths concerning food waste as well as to identify factors that influence changes in behaviour concerning food wasted and planning shopping for preventing it.
Design/methodology/approach
The data used were collected from a sample of 233 students at Roma-Tre University in Italy. Probit models were specified to identify factors affecting food waste reduction in both pre-shopping and consumption phases.
Findings
Results show that the more aware youths are concerning food waste, the more likely they are to reduce leftovers. In contrast, the concern about food freshness increases waste. A greater awareness of the consequences of food wasted increases the likelihood that youths will make a shopping list.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the study can be found in the non-probabilistic sampling design used for the collection of data.
Practical implications
This study provides information for both social marketers and policy makers. New educational campaigns against food waste should be carried out by providing them with a realistic perception of food waste as well as by teaching young consumers how to recognize the level of freshness of food.
Originality/value
This study provides a first insight of the factors that influence food waste reduction as well as the habit of making a shopping list from an individual perspective.
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Clara Cicatiello, Beatrice De Rosa, Silvio Franco and Nicola Lacetera
The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitude of Italian consumers towards insect consumption. The use of insects as alternative protein source is claimed to be a solution…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitude of Italian consumers towards insect consumption. The use of insects as alternative protein source is claimed to be a solution to the environmental concerns over the production of animal proteins and to food security issues. Studies conducted in other European countries report that consumers are quite resistant to the introduction of insect-based products in their diet, although those who are more concerned about environmental and health show some interest towards insect consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey with a 14-item questionnaire on 201 consumers, selected with a systematic sampling within a shopping mall. The factors influencing respondents’ attitude towards insect consumption were studied by means of a logistic regression.
Findings
Results show that 31 per cent of respondents were willing to try insects as food, while 5 per cent had already tried. Familiarity with foreign food, higher education and gender (male) positively influenced consumer attitude to entomophagy. Instead, the fear of insects and the idea that the taste might be disgusting were the main barriers to the willingness to try entomophagy, although these issues were mainly raised by consumers who had no direct experience with insects eating.
Originality/value
The paper is a first attempt of exploring the topic of entomophagy in the Italian context. Most of the results were consistent with previous research carried out in other countries. However, some barriers to insect consumption seem to be stronger in Italy than elsewhere.
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Marco Setti, Luca Falasconi, Andrea Segrè, Ilaria Cusano and Matteo Vittuari
– The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the relationships between consumers’ income and household food waste behaviors.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the relationships between consumers’ income and household food waste behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
Attitude toward food waste is a paradigmatic (economic) non-standard decision making. Based on behavioral economics concepts and empirical evidences, the study analyzes the frequency of household food waste and its main drivers with a focus on individual income. Through a panel of 1,403 Italian consumers, food waste behavior and its determinants are modeled for five food typologies using proportional odds models that adopt stepwise procedures and genetic algorithms.
Findings
Results suggest the existence of complex relationships between per capita income and household food waste behavior. When considering food typologies that include high value added products, this relation can be explained by an inverse U-shaped curve: mid-to-low income consumers purchase higher amounts of lower quality products and waste more food.
Research limitations/implications
The research highlights the importance of understanding the main socio-economic and behavioral determinants of household food waste, and the need for further researches.
Practical implications
The research motivates specific pricing, commercial and policy strategies as well as organizational technological, and educational solutions to prevent/reduce household food waste.
Social implications
Lower income class consumers show a greater attitude to waste certain food typologies. In turn, this implies that food waste can further worse economic inequality and relative poverty.
Originality/value
The study identifies different patterns of relationship among individual income and consumers’ food waste behavior, and describes the conditions that limit a household “Food Waste Kuznets Curve.”
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Se Heine non giunse fino a Roma, in compenso vi arrivarono altri non meno illustri tedeschi, il cui genio si immortalò nel campo musicale. Per non parlare di Händel, che visit�…
Abstract
Se Heine non giunse fino a Roma, in compenso vi arrivarono altri non meno illustri tedeschi, il cui genio si immortalò nel campo musicale. Per non parlare di Händel, che visitò Roma nel 1707, nè di Gluck, che vi venne nel 1756, ricorderemoper il'700 — Wolfango Amedeo Mozart e — per 1'800 — Riccardo Wagner.
This essay aims at retracing the intellectual and biographical events of the economist Gino Arias (1879–1940), examining more in detail the two seasons at the opposite ends of his…
Abstract
This essay aims at retracing the intellectual and biographical events of the economist Gino Arias (1879–1940), examining more in detail the two seasons at the opposite ends of his life: the early one that saw him considerably committed to the Zionist cause and the one that, thirty years later, would force him to confront the racial laws of the Fascist regime.
Despite the seeming tragic continuity of these two phases, Arias’s case is a real historiographical paradox since, over the long span between the opposite ends of his biography, not only did he distance himself from the Zionist movement, but he also gradually laid the foundations for his upcoming and immediate dedication to Fascism; indeed, within the Fascist regime he would stand out as an authoritative and influential theorist of corporatism, the institutional solution Mussolini tried to exploit to organize the national economic life.
After carefully examining Arias’s early contributions to the Zionist cause (that include the establishment of the Florentine Zionist Group and that led him toward strongly nationalistic stances), this essay sums up Arias’s intellectual biography during the next years and then, thanks to unprecedented documents from the Italian Ministry of Interior, closely looks into his fate after his conversion to Catholicism in 1932 and up against the racial laws of 1938, as well as into his attempts to escape persecution. A few final observations will then try to highlight the dramatic exemplarity of his case.
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Elsa Garavaglia, Noemi Basso and Luca Sgambi
This paper aims to present the integrated teaching activity carried out in the Studios of the Master of Science “Architecture-Building Architecture” held at the School of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present the integrated teaching activity carried out in the Studios of the Master of Science “Architecture-Building Architecture” held at the School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering of the “Politecnico di Milano,” Milan, Italy. The integrated teaching activity related to the structural disciplines was in Sgambi et al., 2019; here the structure of the MSc training and its disciplinary synergies will be presented. Indeed, this type of activity characterizes all the Studios of this Master of Science and involves all the disciplines that contribute to the development of an architectural and cultural heritage preservation project.
Design/methodology/approach
In the Studios of the aforementioned Master of Science, teachers of different subjects are involved, working together to guide the student in the development of an architectural project sustainable in all aspects. The fundamentals of each discipline are taught using the best suited teaching methodology and the application phase of each discipline is carried out directly on the students' projects in the form of “learning by making.” The students are thus stimulated to deepen their basic knowledge of each single discipline, making their design choices sustainable.
Findings
This experience, born in 2003 and still active, has also achieved good results in employment. Students train using the “learning by making” method to acquire proficiencies in various disciplines of design, giving them the ability to communicate competently with experts belonging to different construction sectors.
Originality/value
The approach illustrated in this paper does not represent the didactic experimentation of a single discipline, but it is typical of the study program of an entire Master of Science. Although this approach is entirely built on a “learning by making” and “active learning” philosophy, it maintains the teaching of the theoretical contents of disciplines at a significantly high level when compared with the contents of a frontal-taught theoretical course. The development of this structure required a strong commitment on the part of the teaching staff in their search for effective teaching methods in each individual discipline and aimed at the architectural project. The results obtained give an added value to the training of future architects.
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Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference…
Abstract
Looks at the first 100 years of Italian cinema examining its role in Italy’s recent history. Provides a bibliography of major film directors, Italian cinema sources, reference works, histories, themes, theory and criticism and articles in journals.