Search results
1 – 10 of 34Selena Ahmed, Carmen Byker Shanks, Martin Lewis, Alicia Leitch, Caitlin Spencer, Erin M. Smith and Dani Hess
Food waste represents a major sustainability challenge with environmental, economic, social and health implications. Institutions of higher education contribute to generating food…
Abstract
Purpose
Food waste represents a major sustainability challenge with environmental, economic, social and health implications. Institutions of higher education contribute to generating food waste while serving as models in championing sustainability solutions. An experiential learning project was implemented as part of two university courses in a buffet-style university dining hall with the objective to reduce food waste while building student capacity to contribute to transformational food system change.
Design/methodology/approach
Partnerships were developed with university dining services. Students were trained to conduct a needs assessment in a university dining hall through food waste measurements. Students were facilitated through the process of applying baseline data on food waste to design, implement and evaluate a multi-component food waste intervention that consisted of offering reduced portion sizes, use of smaller serving utensils and educational messaging. Participant reflections were elicited to evaluate the effectiveness of the experiential learning experience.
Findings
The food waste intervention led to a 17 per cent reduction in total food waste, with a large portion of waste attributed to post-consumer plate waste. While the reduction in food waste was not statistically significant, it highlights the potential for food service operations to address food waste through reduction techniques while providing students an experiential opportunity that meets multiple learning objectives including systems thinking, collaboration and motivation for leading change in the food system.
Originality/value
This study highlights the opportunity of building student capacity to address sustainability challenges through an experiential learning model for reducing food waste in an institutional setting that other educators can adapt.
Details
Keywords
The term luxury and sustainability, within the fashion and textile industries are seldom seen as natural bedfellows. Recently however, the perception of luxury has begun to…
Abstract
Purpose
The term luxury and sustainability, within the fashion and textile industries are seldom seen as natural bedfellows. Recently however, the perception of luxury has begun to include a definition left behind in the twentieth century; beautifully hand crafted artefacts valued for the time, skill and design invested in them. It is possible though, for the concept of luxury textiles to embrace this definition and that of the sustainable credentials of a “Cradle to Cradle” (McDonough and Braungart, 2002) mindset (that of a life beyond original creation) and be fashionable. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilising a variety of methodologies including case studies, reflective practice and a practice-based approach; this paper examines the use of pre-consumer waste in the creation of new luxury textiles. Several projects are cited, offering examples of collaboration between textile mills and designers in the creation of new fabrics made from luxury by-products. This luxury waste is routinely shredded for automobile seat filling or landfill, however current sustainable thinking encourages a more creative solution to this circumstance. Designers have a crucial role to play in converting an unwanted by-product to one that is highly desirable.
Findings
Traditional values of what constitutes a luxury item include the concept of time invested in making a unique handmade artefact. More recently, this premise has been overlooked in favour of branded goods. The slow fashion movement advocates the inherent value of craftsmanship coupled with the ethical use of sustainable and or local materials and processes. The traditional techniques of felting, weave and stitch are utilised to create beautiful, original textiles from discarded waste. By collaborating with local mills, designers provide solutions to something that could be perceived as a problem.
Originality/value
The embedded narrative within these layered textiles provides an original quality and added value, building on their Scottish heritage. The resulting textiles reflect their provenance; the landscape they come from and the people who created them. As a result of purchase, the story continues with the new custodian, adding to the ongoing history of the textile. The design work and collaboration that this paper outlines embodies a transferable model for sustainable upcycled luxury textiles.
Details
Keywords
Puneet Kaur, Amandeep Dhir, Shalini Talwar and Melfi Alrasheedy
In the recent past, academic researchers have noted the quantity of food wasted in food service establishments in educational institutions. However, more granular inputs are…
Abstract
Purpose
In the recent past, academic researchers have noted the quantity of food wasted in food service establishments in educational institutions. However, more granular inputs are required to counter the challenge posed. The purpose of this study is to undertake a review of the prior literature in the area to provide a platform for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
Towards this end, the authors used a robust search protocol to identify 88 congruent studies to review and critically synthesize. The research profiling of the selected studies revealed limited studies conducted on food service establishments in universities. The research is also less dispersed geographically, remaining largely focused on the USA. Thereafter, the authors performed content analysis to identify seven themes around which the findings of prior studies were organized.
Findings
The key themes of the reviewed studies are the drivers of food waste, quantitative assessment of food waste, assessment of the behavioural aspects of food waste, operational strategies for reducing food waste, interventions for inducing behavioural changes to mitigate food waste, food diversion and food waste disposal processes and barriers to the implementation of food waste reduction strategies.
Research limitations/implications
This study has key theoretical and practical implications. From the perspective of research, the study revealed various gaps in the extant findings and suggested potential areas that can be examined by academic researchers from the perspective of the hospitality sector. From the perspective of practice, the study recommended actionable strategies to help managers mitigate food waste.
Originality/value
The authors have made a novel contribution to the research on food waste reduction by identifying theme-based research gaps, suggesting potential research questions and proposing a framework based on the open-systems approach to set the future research agenda.
Details
Keywords
Sita Mishra, Sheetal Jain and Gunjan Malhotra
Unsustainable fashion consumption and wasteful practices have recently garnered attention in practice and academia; however, research in this field is limited. This study is based…
Abstract
Purpose
Unsustainable fashion consumption and wasteful practices have recently garnered attention in practice and academia; however, research in this field is limited. This study is based upon an extensive review of the literature and aims to fill this gap by providing an in-depth understanding of various drivers and actors operating in the closed-loop fashion value chain. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework of transformation from the linear economy (LE) to the circular economy (CE) for the fashion industry based on “transition theory.”
Design/methodology/approach
This study is conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, a bibliographic compilation on the given subject is done. In Phase 2, data about the case company is collected through trade media and semi-structured interviews with the founder and the designers.
Findings
The study found that key drivers for the closed-loop fashion value chain are collaboration with partners, innovation, waste management system, customer connect and changing utilization patterns. Based on the extensive literature review and analysis of the case study, it can be concluded that to incorporate CE principles, namely, reduce, repair, reuse and recycle into current business models, redefining existing value propositions and transforming various business model elements is essential.
Practical implications
A three-level (discrete level, aggregator level and the peripheral level) framework is developed that can help the fashion industry in transition from LE to CE. This study will help fashion houses to understand how they can work in tandem with various stakeholders to develop sustainable business models.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to research by advancing the understanding of how to further develop and redesign an innovative business model framework for the circular fashion value chain. A three-level framework is developed that can be used for transition from LE to CE, especially in the fashion industry. This study is one of the first research that has tried to analyze the Indian case company for CE practices in fashion.
Details
Keywords
Environmental, economic and market pressures have led to a dramatic increase in the production of recycled paper fibre in recent years and the growing demand for higher quality…
Abstract
Environmental, economic and market pressures have led to a dramatic increase in the production of recycled paper fibre in recent years and the growing demand for higher quality grades is now focusing attention on the recycling of office wastes. Although the role of chemistry in the recycling process for paper is well established, the introduction of newer inks and adhesives into the recycling chain has added to the existing problems of “getting the chemistry right”. This article examines the impact on the deinking of secondary paper fibre resulting from evolving ink technologies, catalysed by developments in the printing processes.
Details
Keywords
A. Fricker, R. Thompson and A. Manning
This paper aims to describe and evaluate the traditional methods for effective ink removal during the recycling of printed papers. Additionally, novel techniques for dealing with…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe and evaluate the traditional methods for effective ink removal during the recycling of printed papers. Additionally, novel techniques for dealing with the newer “difficult to deink” inks such as toners from photocopiers, UV‐cured ink films and liquid toner suspensions or Electroinks® are to be evaluated.
Design/methodology/approach
High intensity ultrasound was applied to pulps derived from papers printed with these newer inks in order to evaluate its effectiveness in detaching the inks from paper and establishing the resultant ink particle size distributions.
Findings
When exposed to ultrasound at a frequency of 20 kHz, it was found that “difficult to deink” pulps did exhibit significant ink detachment. In the case of toners, temperature did have an effect on particle breakdown with larger numbers of particles produced at temperatures well below the softening point which was attributed to a greater brittleness of the toner at lower temperatures. Electroinks® can be effectively de‐inked by exposure to ultrasound coupled with washing under neutral conditions. With all the inks investigated, exposure to ultrasound resulted in the detached ink having particle size distributions that can be removed by conventional flotation and washing techniques.
Research limitations/implications
The exposure of the pulp to ultrasound was only carried out using a batch‐wise process. A future development would be to use a continuous flow system incorporating an annular ultrasound horn.
Practical implications
Introducing ultrasound exposure into a conventional deinking plant, all post‐consumer printed waste paper could be deinked without the use of deinking chemicals.
Originality/value
The findings are of interest to those in paper recycling.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this study is to (1) identify the sustainable practices developed by the textile and apparel industry and (2) investigate the gaps and opportunities in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to (1) identify the sustainable practices developed by the textile and apparel industry and (2) investigate the gaps and opportunities in the sustainability implementation process by quantitively analyzing the sustainability topics and the relevant topic trends.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed text mining techniques. A total of 1,168 relevant magazine articles published from 2013 to 2020 were collected and then categorized according to their tones. In total, 36 topics were identified by reviewing the sustainability issues in the industry. The frequency of each topic mentioned in the articles and the correlation coefficients between topics' frequencies and published time were calculated. The results were used to examine if the three sustainability dimensions (environment, society, economy) were equally addressed and identify opportunities in the sustainability implementation process.
Findings
There were much fewer social and economic topics than environmental topics discussed in the articles. Additionally, there were not enough practices developed to reduce microfiber pollution, improve consumers' knowledge of sustainability, offset the carbon footprint, build a transparent, sustainable supply chain and avoid animal cruelty.
Originality/value
There is a lack of research focusing on the whole supply chain and sustainability when investigating sustainable practices and topic trends. This study fills a part of the gap. The results can be used by industrialists to identify sustainable practice opportunities and better manage their sustainable supply chains. Researchers can utilize the results to compare the topics in the industry with the topics studied in academia.
Details
Keywords
Vaida Dobilaite, Gene Mileriene, Milda Juciene and Virginija Saceviciene
Production and consumption of textile garments contribute significantly to environment problems. The purpose of this paper is to perform the evaluation of textile waste generated…
Abstract
Purpose
Production and consumption of textile garments contribute significantly to environment problems. The purpose of this paper is to perform the evaluation of textile waste generated at Lithuanian clothing enterprises based on statistical data analysis and business cases studies.
Design/methodology/approach
For the evaluation of real situation of waste generation in companies, an original methodology was developed and used during investigation. In order to get an overall view, statistical data of waste generation and management in Lithuania were also analysed. Waste accounting covered data such as wastes from unprocessed textile fibres and wastes from processed textile fibres and textiles (not otherwise specified).
Findings
The investigation showed that the amount of cutting waste reaches 20-25 per cent of the total quantity of materials used for production. It was found that the waste is not sorted in Lithuanian clothing enterprises and is disposed in landfills in most cases, notwithstanding the positive tendencies of recycling of waste that were observed during past year. However, a practical recycling strategy and broader perception of developing products with greater added value from waste are missing in Lithuania.
Originality/value
In this research, a simple methodology was developed for determining the quantity of the textile waste generated by enterprises, the introduction of which would allow us to expect better results in waste accounting and management. The results of investigation are useful to gain in-depth understanding of waste generation in various countries.
Details
Keywords
Yasanur Kayikci, Melisa Ozbiltekin and Yigit Kazancoglu
The purpose of this paper is to find solutions to improve the red meat sector in an emerging economy, Turkey, from the circular economy point of view, and taking sustainability…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find solutions to improve the red meat sector in an emerging economy, Turkey, from the circular economy point of view, and taking sustainability approach. The need for circular management within the red meat sector in Turkey is emphasized by using Grey method. As theoretical contribution of this study, the investigation of the causes of losses at the slaughter stages of the red meat supply chain leads to proposals for sustainable and circular solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Grey method is used to predict the number of slaughtered cattle and the amount of bone and blood waste in the slaughtering process between 2018 and 2020.
Findings
It is revealed that according to Grey prediction calculations, although the amount of slaughtered cattle, bone and blood waste seem have decreased between 2018 and 2020, there are still significant losses in Turkish red meat sector. For bone waste, this is expected to be 56,581,200 kg in 2018, 48,235,840 kg in 2019 and 41,121,380 kg in 2020. For blood waste, it is expected to be 24,754,275 kg in 2018, 21,103,180 kg in 2019 and 17,990,604 kg in 2020.
Social implications
The proposed model in the study will contribute on sector revitalization, increase in product safety, quality and hygiene, development in the management of training and education centers for farmers/labors and increase in employment.
Originality/value
This paper represents policymakers with a proposal for triple bottom line (TBL) based circular and central slaughterhouse model, based on TBL, which brings social, economic and environmental benefits for the red meat sector in Turkey.
Details
Keywords
Madeleine Pullman and Robin Wikoff
This purpose of this paper is to understand the environmental impacts of stakeholder-driven sustainable purchasing policies in institutional settings.
Abstract
Purpose
This purpose of this paper is to understand the environmental impacts of stakeholder-driven sustainable purchasing policies in institutional settings.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is framed using stakeholder and life cycle assessment (LCA) theories. The study uses a multi-method approach. Starting with interviews to understand the breadth of sustainability issues and significant food purchases facing institutional purchasing managers, the authors subsequently perform LCA of these various policies using the most popular food item in different categories.
Findings
From the interview results, the authors found that food purchasers focus predominately on cost, thus, are committed to food and packaging reduction. They are driven to buy local foods based on their consumer stakeholders but share their commitment to buying local products if the cost is appropriate. In the LCA of popular food items in multiple scenarios, avoiding food waste of various forms had significantly higher carbon emissions savings than packaging reduction or transportation minimizing (buy local) strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The sample relied solely on the perceptions of institutional purchasing managers in university dining services. Future research should involve collecting data from other stakeholder groups such as the customers themselves, institutional leaders, and in other types of institutional settings such as hospitals and government agencies.
Practical implications
The research provides managers with insights concerning the trade-offs between different sustainability objectives. In particular, findings show that reducing waste related animal protein has a bigger impact on environmental performance than many other popular sustainability objectives such as buying local or reducing packaging waste.
Social implications
The paper focuses on the purchasing trade-offs of buying local vs national food products, different packaging solutions, and food waste generation. These decisions offer some social benefits (improve the economic situation for local farms vs consolidated food producers) as well as multiple environmental benefits.
Originality/value
The paper presents new findings on the sustainability purchasing priorities of stakeholders in institutional food settings and subsequent LCA of those policies to show which might have the most environmental impact.
Details