title: Food consumption and waste and the embedded carbon, water and ecological footprints of households in China.
abstract: Strategies for reducing food waste and developing sustainable diets require information about the impacts of consumption behavior and waste generation on climatic, water, and land resources. We quantified the carbon, water, and ecological footprints of 17,110 family members of Chinese households, covering 1935 types of foods, by combining survey data with available life-cycle assessment data sets. We also summarized the patterns of both food consumption and waste generation and analyzed the factors influencing the observed trends. The average person wasted (consumed) 16 (415) kg of food at home annually, equivalent to 40 (1080) kg CO2e, 18 (673) m(3), and 173 (4956) gm(2) for the carbon, water and ecological footprints, respectively. The generation of food waste was highly correlated with consumption for various food groups. For example, vegetables, rice, and wheat were consumed the most and accounted for the most waste. In addition to the three plant-derived food groups, pork and aquatic products also contributed greatly to embedded footprints. The data obtained in this study could be used for assessing national food security or the carrying capacity of resources.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China. Electronic address: gb.song@dlut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Guobao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Mingjing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Henry Musoke
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Semakula
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (MOE), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Shushen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D058572:Carbon Footprint / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005502:Food / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005735:Garbage; D006798:Housing / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans
keywords: Carbon footprint; Ecological footprint; Food consumption; Food waste; Household; Water footprint