Circular food strategies for the Gothenburg circular economy action plan

Abstract

Resource efficiency can reduce material demand and support the economy of cities. Circular economy actions can support the reduction of the economic gap between linear metabolism and circular metabolism of a city. Gothenburg aims to improve its food sector by implementing circular action across its food value chain. The thesis analyses the food metabolism of Gothenburg, identify suitable circular strategies relevant to the city based on the circularity pillars and model how the selected strategies affect the metabolism change in the production, consumption, trade and waste stages of the food chain. The results of the three modelled actions shows that import dependency on identified food products could be reduced although in some cases dependency shifted from one product to another. The actions could also support more circular food flows in Gothenburg through increased local production, changes in consumption and redistribution of surplus food. Through action alley farming, oat bread production reduced bread imports by 18 percent resulting in additional wheat imports. Action dietary change reduced modelled school meat demand but also increased imports of identified plant-based products. In centralized retail surplus redistribution, the estimated 6 percent increase in surplus capture rate at redistribution centres directed more food to people, that could potentially reduce the amount sent to waste treatment, while also reducing the import dependency of redistributed food products. The results indicate that the selected actions could contribute to more circular food flow in Gothenburg even though trade dependency is not eliminated. The selected actions show potential to support substitution, extend the use of surplus retail food and improve the resilience of the food system.