Sustainable Food Supply Chain Framework in a Circular Economy

Introduction

In 2030 and 2050, the world population is expected to increase to 8.5 billion people and 9.5 billion people respectively. Hence, there will be a 70% rise in food production which eventually will put pressure on the food supply chain (FSC) as a whole. In the current situation, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food are predicted to be wasted annually (Nicastro & Carillo, 2021). Due to that, growing public awareness of a sustainable food supply chain (SFSC) in ensuring food security and safety has become a phenomenon in recent years (Zhang et al., 2019). Consequently, the public is now extremely concerned about the current state of the FSC as it relates to attaining the circular economy. This is particularly precise given that up to one-third of the food produced worldwide is wasted or lost as a result of inadequate management of FSC (Spang et al., 2019). Therefore, one of the potential solutions that provide resolutions to improve and optimise production and consumption towards the SFSC is a circular economy implementation. The circular economy model of production and consumption comprises sharing, renting, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing resources and products as long as possible and able to prolong the life cycle of products and minimising wastes (Kirchherr et al., 2017). Hence, the circular economy concept is of boundless interest in order to develop a SFSC towards improving food safety and reduce food wastes (Ojha et al., 2020).

The existing FSC is unsustainable since it is impacted by numerous issues of an environmental, economic, and social nature. The circular economy is one of the potential solutions since it provides instruments to improve and optimise consumption and production in the pursuit of a sustainable paradigm (Jurgilevich et al., 2016). Growing attention has been given to this novel idea over the past ten years in an effort to offer a viable alternative to the prevalent linear economic model. As a means of implementing sustainable development to boost competitiveness, safeguarding firms from resource scarcity, and assisting in the creation of new opportunities and innovative markets, the circular economy concept is of significant importance (Cristóbal et al., 2018). The circular economy idea also encompasses the critical effects of eco-design, waste reduction, and product recovery within the FSC, including cost savings, energy conservation, waste elimination, and sustainable consumption. Hence, it is important to concentrate on the efficiency of the FSC from farm to form. FSC businesses in the circular economy can work together to maximise salvage value and achieve zero waste. Though the study of circular economy is still relatively new, it was found that the SFSC topic had not received enough attention in the literature. In Malaysia, there are no proactive initiatives to recover or recycle the returns in circular settings, indicating that the country's FSC sector has not given the circular economy any thought (Ibn-Mohammed et al., 2021).