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Anledningen till denna avhandling är att undersöka hur ett innovativt Internet of Things-baserat system kan vara fördelaktigt för att minska matavfall. Det anses viktigt att hitta nya sätt och lösningar på det växande problemet med matavfall. Syftet med denna studie är att hitta nya möjliga lösningar för att minska matavfall i Sverige. För att utveckla en lösning krävs en större förståelse för hur svenskar hanterar matavfall idag. Avhandlingen bygger på verkliga behov och undersöker noggrant hur en lösning kan utvecklas på bästa sätt.   Design Thinking processen kommer att genomföras i denna studie. För att närma sig och undersöka dagens behov kommer en enkätundersökning och intervjuer att genomföras tillsammans med sökandet efter liknande forskning och lösningar inom området matavfall. En prototyp har utvecklats och olika funktioner har skapats i enlighet med de behov som fanns. Den utvecklade prototypen har också varit i kontakt med potentiella användare för att samla in feedback om prototypen.   Resultatet av detta arbete är att det är möjligt att utveckla en teknisk och innovativ lösning för problemet med matavfall. Det går också att se att det finns en stor utvecklingspotential när det gäller Internet of Things på detta område. En välutvecklad prototyp med flera funktioner har skapats och kan visa vägen för andra innovativa lösningar för matavfall.   Matavfall är ett enormt problem i världen idag och lösningar krävs. Det finns människor runt om i världen som svälter ihjäl och fortfarande kastas 30% av den producerade ätbara maten bort. Nya tekniska och innovativa lösningar behövs inom detta område och mer forskning bör bedrivas. Internet of Things har en stor potential för att minska matavfallet i framtiden. / The reason for this thesis is to investigate how an innovative Internet of Things based system can be beneficial in reducing food waste. It´s considered important to find new ways and solutions to the growing problem of food waste.    The purpose of this study is to find new possible solutions to reduce food waste in Sweden. To develop a solution, a greater understanding of how Swedes handle food waste today is required. The thesis will be based on real needs and carefully examine how a solution can be developed in the best way. The Design Thinking process will be carried out in this study. To approach and investigate the needs of today, a survey and interviews will be conducted together with article research with similar solutions in the field of food waste. A prototype has been developed, and different features have been created according to the needs that existed. The developed prototype has also been in contact with potential users to collect feedback about the prototype. The result of this work is that it´s possible to develop a technical and innovative solution for the problem of food waste. It can also be seen that there is a great development potential regarding the Internet of Things in this area. A well-developed prototype with multiple features has been created and can show the direction for other innovative solutions for food waste. Food waste is a huge problem in the world today, and solutions are required. There are people around the world that are starving to death, and still, 30% of the produced eatable food is thrown away. New technical and innovative solutions are needed in this area, and more research should be conducted. Internet of Things will continue its development in the near future and has big potential to help reducing food waste.

Livsmedel står för en stor del av vår klimatpåverkan och således har livsmedelsbutiker en betydande roll att spela i livsmedelskedjan. Hållbarhet och miljömässiga utmaningar diskuteras mer än någonsin och berör alla aspekter i företagandet – inte minst marknadsföringen. Syftet med studien är att visa på hur samspelet mellan marknadsföringsbeslut i marknadsmixen och hållbarhet ser ut, där reduktion av matsvinn är den kontext av hållbar marknadsföring som studien adresserar. För att undersöka detta samspel används marknadsmixen sexhörningen vilken jämförs med CSR-strategin shared value. Studien är kvalitativ där empiriinsamlingen skett via semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer. Åtta butikers handlare eller butikschefer har deltagit för att kunna ge insyn från de som arbetar mest med både marknadsföring och strategier i företagen.Resultaten visar på att samtliga butiker arbetar med hållbara marknadsföringsbeslut vad gäller reduceringen av matsvinn, där olika utmaningar för större och mindre butiker uppdagas. Butikerna i studien arbetar på ett liknande arbetssätt i den dagliga driften, där omfattningen av volymer är den största skillnaden. Samtliga butiker skapar värde för företagen och samhället med deras marknadsföringsbeslut, även om det finns en avsaknad av uttalad hållbarhetsstrategi hos alla. / Food accounts for a large portion of our climate impact and therefore food stores have a significant role to play in the supply chain of food. Sustainability and environmental challenges are more relevant than ever before, and affects all activities in business – especially marketing. The purpose of the study is to present the interplay between decisions in the marketing mix and sustainability, where food waste is the context of sustainable marketing which the study addresses. The marketing mix ‘The hexagon’ is compared with the CSR strategy ‘Shared Value’to examine this interplay. The study is qualitative where interviews and observations was used for the empirical collection. Eight stores owners or managers has participated in interviews to be able to get insight from the people working closest to marketing and strategy decisions in the companies. The results shows that all of the stores works with sustainable marketing decisions in terms of reduction of food waste, where different challenges for bigger and smaller stores appears. All of the stores in this study works similar in the daily operations, where the volumes are the greatest difference. All of the stores creates value for themselves and the communities with their marketing decisions, although there is a lack of spoken sustainability strategy at all stores.

Food waste is a global concern due to its negative contribution to all aspects ofsustainability and organizations are looking for new ways to directly impact their own food waste and operate their business in a more sustainable way. Part ofthe food waste stems from warehouse activities where mishandling and poorly packed rolling storage containers (RSCs) lead to damaged items during transport. The storage assignment dictates how the items are ordered in awarehouse and is therefore responsible for how items are packed into RSCs. Due to the lack of previous research in this area, this thesis aims to investigate how the multi-criteria ABC-analysis can be used to optimize the storage assignment with the intent of minimizing food waste. A qualitative case study at Warehouse X was conducted where ten employees highlighted several criteria such as weight, volume, and similarity, that all need to be considered when optimizing the storage assignment. A total of nine criteria were used to generate eight classes that are used in the proposed multi-criteria ABC-analysis. The proposed model can be used by all actors in the Swedish food industry to improve their warehouse operations and operate them in a more sustainable way to reduce their food waste. It is also generalizable to warehouses outside the Swedish food industry

Digestate produced during anaerobic digestion of food waste is recognised as a good alternative to mineral fertilizer which could also be used to amend soil properties. This has conventionally been applied directly and unprocessed to nearby farms or processed and transported elsewhere. The latter option has gained recognition due to environmental restrictions coupled with soil nutrient management objectives but is an expensive venture. With increasing biogas production and AD plants across Europe, production of digestate has however exceeded its demand. Improving the dewaterability of the digestate has the benefit of reducing the cost and time of processing and handling. The principal aim of this experiment was to enhance the dewaterability of food waste digestate by the addition of pulp fibre to the AD process. In doing so, the study also investigated the effect of co-digestion of food waste and pulp fibre on the performance and stability of the digestion. Source separated food waste was digested at OLR of 3.5 ±0.1 g VS/L*d-1 for 163 days in 3 CSTRs with a working volume of 6L at HRT OF 23-26 days. Soft- and hardwood pulp fibres were added to 2 designated digesters for 104 days and increased stepwise at OLR of 0.5 ±0.1 g VS/L*d-1 PF until 1.5 ±0.1 g VS/L*d-1 PF with the 3rd digester serving as a control. 3 other post-digesters, each with a working volume of 1.41L were operated for 104 days with sludge from the 3 main digesters serving as inoculum and substrate. This was run at HRT of 7 days.  Pulp fibre addition of 1.5 ±0.1 g VS/L*d-1 OLR to 3.5 ±0.1 g VS/L*d-1 food waste increased the total biogas and methane production to 35-40% and 21-32% respectively. Though recording a higher biogas production, the corresponding specific methane production from the fibre addition was 12-8% lower than food waste digestion. Analysis of the digestate from post digestion showed that CST increased linearly from 595 ±13s for food waste digestate to 962 ±19s for pulp fibre addition. The experiment established a positive correlation between CST and organic matter content. Suspended solids increased from 128 ±10 mg/l for FW digestate to 177 ±12 – 237 ±10 mg/l for fibre addition. Addition of kraft pulp fibre types did not enhance the dewaterability of the digestate. However, the total methane production was enhanced by the addition of pulp fibre. / <p>Parts of the thesis is scheduled to be published in a scientific journal</p>

Bakgrund: Ungefär en tredjedel av all mat som produceras från alla delar i leveranskedjan slängs, trots att 870 miljoner av värdens invånare svälter. Samtidigt orsakar matsvinn omfattande växthusgasutsläpp och kostar samhället stora summor pengar. Olika länders aktörer behöver stå i framkant och tänka miljösmart för att minimera matsvinnet i hela produktionsledet. Svenska livsmedelsbutiker är därmed en del av denna kedja som behöver minska sitt matsvinn. En faktor som kan orsaka matsvinn i livsmedelsbutiker vad gäller frukt och grönsaker är konsumenters attityder, kompetens och beteenden. Utöver detta kan det också finnas andra orsaker, vilket i sin tur kommer att påverka vilka åtgärder som bör vidtas från exempelvis en livsmedelsföreståndares sida. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka hur livsmedelsföreståndare för frukt- och grönsakssortimentet i svenska livsmedelsbutiker resonerar kring hur butikens frukt- och grönsakssvinn kan uppstå samt minskas.  Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie genomfördes med fem livsmedelsföreståndare från svenska livsmedelsbutiker med större karaktär, det vill säga butiker som hanterar större volymer livsmedel och har större antal kunder, snarare än en liten lokalbutik. Intervjuerna spelades in, transkriberades och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Konsumenternas kvalitetskrav, okunskap om vad en dålig vara egentligen är, samt klämmande och petande på frukt och grönsaker orsakade matsvinn i butiken. Butikens krav och rutiner orsakade även svinn såsom felaktig temperatur vid transport och inom butiken, hyllpåfyllnadskrav, sortimentskrav och kampanjer. Åtgärder som butiker kan vidta för att minska matsvinnet är bättre rensvarvshantering och prisreducering, inspektion av butikens lager, att skänka svinn till välgörenhetsdonationer, samt återanvända svinnet till matlagning som säljs till kunder och butikspersonal. Slutsats: Alla orsaker och åtgärder som lyfts i studien är ett samspel med faktorer som behöver vara välfungerande. Är en aspekt ur funktion kan ett obefogat ökat matsvinn förekomma. Studiens resultat har visat att det inte endast är konsumenten som behöver förändra sitt beteende, utan även livsmedelsbutiken och dess samspel med konsumenters förväntningar på bra råvaror. / Background: About a third of everything produced from all parts of the supply chain is thrown away, despite the fact that 870 million of the host's inhabitants are starving. At the same time, food waste causes extensive greenhouse gas emissions and costs society large sums of money. Actors from different countries need to be at the forefront and think environmentally smart in order to minimize food waste throughout the production phase. Swedish grocery stores are thus part of this chain that needs to reduce their food waste. One factor that can cause food waste in grocery stores in terms of fruits and vegetables is consumers' attitudes, skills and behaviors. In addition to this, there may also be other reasons, which in turn will affect what measures should be taken by, for example, a food manager. Objective: The purpose was to investigate how food managers for the fruit and vegetable assortment in Swedish grocery stores reason about how the store's fruit and vegetable waste can be reduced. Method: A qualitative interview study was conducted with five food managers from Swedish grocery stores with a larger character, namely stores that handle larger volumes of food and have a larger number of customers, rather than a small local store. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Results: Consumers' quality demands, ignorance of what a bad product really is, as well as squeezing and poking at fruits and vegetables causes food waste in the store. The store's requirements and routines also caused losses such as incorrect temperature during transport and within the store, shelf filling requirements, assortment requirements and promotions. Measures that stores can take to reduce food waste are cleaning away fruits and vegetables about to go bad, price reduction, inspection of the store's stock, donating waste to charity donations, and reusing the waste for cooking that is sold to customers and store staff. Conclusion: All causes and measures highlighted in the study are an interplay of factors that need to be well-functioning. If an aspect is out of order, there may be an unjustified increase in food waste. The results of the study have shown that it is not only the consumer who needs to change their behavior, but also the grocery store and its interaction with consumers' expectations of good raw materials.

For three weeks the plate waste from the students at the Edith Bowen Laboratory School was collected. The students were divided into three units by grade; Unit I, kindergarten and first grade, Unit II, second and third grade; and Unit III, fourth through sixth grade. The total waste of the individual menu items in the three units was weighed to determine the total waste of each food item for the unit. In each unit individual food items from three control trays weighed together, and an average serving portion for the item in each of the three units was obtained. The study consisted of three phases, each lasting five consecutive school days with one control phase and two experimental phases. During the control phase (Phase 1) the dessert was placed on the front of the tray, in relation to the children and the children played after lunch. The dessert was placed on the back of the tray in relation to the children and playtime was after lunch in Phase 2. In Phase 3, the dessert was placed again on the back of the tray, but playtime was before lunch. The placement of food on the tray had no measurable affect on the amount of food wasted. When the children played before lunch there was a significant decrease in the amount of food wasted. The meals as served, consumed, and wasted were analyzed for 22 nutrients, and the nutrient density or Index of Nutritional Quality of the meals was also determined. The meals as served were examined to see if they met the nutrient requirements for a Type A lunch.

Hydrogen production by means of anaerobic fermentation was researched utilizing three different substrates. Synthetic wastewater, dairy manure, and cheese whey were combined together at different concentrations under batch anaerobic conditions to determine the optimal hydrogen producing potential and waste treatment of each. Cheese whey at a concentration of 55% was combined with dairy manure at a concentration of 45% to produce 1.53 liters of hydrogen per liter of substrate. These results are significant because the control, synthetic wastewater, which was a glucose-based substrate, produced less hydrogen, 1.34 liters per liter of substrate, than the mixture of cheese whey and dairy manure. These findings indicate that cheese whey and dairy manure, which are of little value, have potential to produce clean combusting hydrogen fuel. The effluent from the anaerobic hydrogen fermentations was then placed into a second continuous-fed reactor as part of a two-phase anaerobic digestion system. This system was designed to produce hydrogen and methane for a mixture of approximately 10% hydrogen. The two-stage process also further treated the synthetic wastewater, dairy manure, and cheese whey. The two-phase anaerobic methanogenic reactor was shown to produce more methane in the second phase (56 L IBR anaerobic digester), 1.36 mL per minute per liter substrate, as compared to the single-phase anaerobic reactor (56 L IBR), which produced 1.22 mL per minute per liter substrate. In general, this research has suggested that agricultural and food processing wastes provide the needed nutrients for hydrogen production and that a two-phase anaerobic digestion system is ideally set up to produce hydrogen-methane mixtures while treating wastes for discharge into the environment.

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