Closing the food loop – guidelines and criteria for improving nutrient management
Journal article, 2015

As global consumption expands, the world is increasingly facing threats to resource availability and food security. To meet future food demands, agricultural resource efficiency needs to be optimized for both water and nutrients. Policy makers should start to radically rethink nutrient management across the entire food chain. Closing the food loop by recycling nutrients in food waste and excreta is an important way of limiting the use of mineral nutrients, as well as improving national and global food security. This article presents a framework for sustainable nutrient management and discusses the responsibility of four key stakeholder groups—agriculture, the food industry, consumers, and waste management—for achieving an effective food loop. In particular, we suggest a number of criteria, policy actions, and supporting strategies based on a cross-sectoral application of the waste hierarchy.

material balance

waste utilization

Food processing industry wastes

food additives

agricultural wastes

Author

Jennifer R Mc Conville

Chalmers, Architecture

Pernilla Tidåker

Jan-Olof Drangert

Tina-Simone Neset

Sebastien Rauch

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Water Environment Technology

Ingrid Strid

Karin Tonderski

Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy

15487733 (eISSN)

Vol. 11 2

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Building Futures (2010-2018)

Subject Categories

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

Water Engineering

More information

Created

10/7/2017