Life cycle assessment of a new feed production obtained by wasted flour food collected from the distribution and retail phases

This study assesses the suitability of flour food products wasted during the distribution phase to be used as raw material for the production of animal feed. Landfill is nowadays the most adopted end of life option for flour food products. Nonetheless, by setting up a specific sorting system, it would be possible to separate the wasted food from its packaging and to recover both of them. In this latter case, food waste could be better valorised, by diverting it to alternative channels, such as anaerobic digestion or animal feeding. In this study, the environmental performance of two valorisation scenarios for floor food waste intended to be used to produce animal feed were analysed using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The new scenarios are compared with one another and with the traditional feed production. Results of the study show that the new scenarios lead to environmental benefits for all the considered impact categories.