Reducing edible food waste in the UK food manufacturing supply chain through collaboration

While a third of food produced is wasted at the pre-consumer stage in the UK food manufacturing supply chain (FMSC) and has had significant negative economic and environmental impacts, many challenges remain in how to reduce edible food waste. This chapter addresses the problem of whether and to what extent FMSC collaboration could lead to the reduction of edible food waste. Evidence in the literature suggests that despite an increasing attention having been paid to reduce edible food waste, there is a scarcity of studies that focus on the relationship between FMSC collaboration and the reduction of edible food waste. Consequently, the aim of this chapter is to develop a research model that explains the relationships among FMSC collaboration, collaborative effectiveness and the reduction of edible food waste. The model is underpinned by the relation view and has been empirically tested with 122 survey responses from food manufacturing firms, using structural equation modelling. The findings indicated that FMSC collaboration has a positive effect on collaborative effectiveness, which in turn results in the reduction of edible food waste during production, processing and storage. Thus, an important implication of this chapter is that the UK FMSC members would benefit from closely collaborating with their supply chain partners to achieve greater collaborative effectiveness and thereby reducing edible food waste.