Food waste is a major issue in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, food security, financial costs and environmental corporate social responsibility. If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitting country in the world, following the US and China. In the Agrifood Systems program, our research team are applying the tools of sociology, management, law and public relations to demonstrate how transitions to more sustainable food systems are possible. This includes:
- The application of socio-technical transitions theory to identify system solutions to a systemic problem;
- The interrogation of the value of voluntary standards as a governance mechanism to reduce food waste across the agrifood supply chain;
- The relationship between food waste and food relief.
- A whole of systems approach necessary to address complex matters that endure beyond the level of ‘the organisation’ or ‘the household’
- The efficacy of circular economy approaches
- Community engagement in relation digital solutions to monitor methane and incentivise participation in local composting and food growing schemes
Please see the links below for access to our peer-reviewed research papers, and contact Associate Professor Carol Richards c6.richards@qut.edu.au or Dr Bree Hurst bree.hurst@qut.edu.au for more information
Publications
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Richards, Carol, Hurst, Bree, Messner, Rudolf, & O’Connor, Grace (2021) The paradoxes of food waste reduction in the horticultural supply chain. Industrial Marketing Management, 93, pp. 482-491.
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Messner, Rudolf, Johnson, Hope, & Richards, Carol (2021) From surplus-to-waste: A study of systemic overproduction, surplus and food waste in horticultural supply chains. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, Article number: 123952.
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Messner, Rudolf, Richards, Carol, & Johnson, Hope (2020) The ‘Prevention Paradox’: Food waste prevention and the quandary of systemic surplus production. Agriculture and Human Values, 37(3), pp. 805-817.
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Devin, B. and Richards, C. (2016) Food waste, power, and corporate social responsibility in the Australian food supply chain. Journal of Business Ethics, 10.1007/s10551-016-3181-z [add link here]
Chief Investigators
- Associate Professor Bree Hurst
- Dr Rudolf Messner
- Professor Carol Richards
- Associate Professor Hope Johnson
