Blockchain is a digital innovative technology that is decentralized, open to the use of all stakeholders, does not allow data manipulation, and has many more features. Blockchain, which has the potential to solve problems in food safety, is attracting more and more attention from researchers in this field. In this study, a conceptual model for the integration of blockchain and food waste management is proposed. The combination of blockchain and food waste management has economic, social, and environmental dimensions that will serve the purpose of reducing food waste. However, some blockchain barriers make it difficult to integrate with food waste management. Blockchain barriers that affect the success of this integration are examined with the BEST-Worst Method (BWM). As a result of the analysis, infrastructure setup and adaptation challenges stand out as the most important barrier. The study would be a starting point for practitioners working on food waste management and the blockchain system, and government officials planning regulations in this area.
Top1. Introduction
The COVID19 pandemic was a time when economic sensitivities about food waste preceded environmental sensitivities. During this period, the disruption of supply chains and the deterioration of the demand structure brought along difficulties in accessing food (Heck et al., 2020). Although the negative effects of the pandemic have begun to disappear in global economies, the risks of product expiration dates have increased in perishable food products, especially with the loss of labor on the food production side and the slowdown in logistics activities (Kayikci et al., 2021). Due to its perishable, moist and smelly structure, food is an environmental threat, an important cost item and a serious harm to human health even during its disposal (Jin et al., 2021). The global identity of food production and the excessive increase in consumption trigger food waste.
Many events today make it difficult to reach food. For this reason, effective food waste management initiatives gain importance for national security (Ananno et al., 2021). Masud et al. (2020) states that a significant portion of food waste occurs during the production phase, especially in developing countries, and that the evaluation of this waste is an economic issue. Cooperation of stakeholders in food supply chains on issues such as timing, information sharing and coordination gains importance in terms of food waste management. Suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, customers, social initiatives and government authorities, which are stakeholders of food supply chains, have roles in reducing food waste (Aschemann-Witzel et al., 2017; Ghinoi et al., 2020). Raut et al. (2019) states that new generation technologies integrated into food supply chains offer effective results in reducing food waste and ensuring food safety. FAO (2020) reports a 14% reduction in food waste thanks to the application of modern technologies in food supply chains (Kumar et al., 2022).
Systems based on IOT and blockchain integration among smart technologies have become useful tools for food production and distribution systems with their innovative features such as product monitoring, transparency, data security, securing agreements and many more. The decentralized blockchain system provides transparency between stakeholders about authenticated records (Tillemann et al., 2019; Crosby et al., 2016). Blockchain has the potential to strengthen food security, reduce spoilage, and reduce waste and CO2 emissions from operations (Friedman and Ormiston, 2022).
Blockchain promises significant advantages for many systems due to its product-tracking feature. However, it takes time and experience to adapt new technologies and identify potential problems. Blockchain is one of the trending study topics of recent times, but most studies on its application areas are theoretical. Actually, there are various barriers to the use of blockchain in harmony with other systems. The energy problem caused by continuous data entry and computer processing is one of these barriers. The high-energy requirement has both economic and environmental effects due to the carbon footprint formation (Kouhizadeh et al., 2021). The high-energy requirement is an example of the mechanism of action that barriers to integration can reveal. Correctly identifying the factors affecting blockchain integration will facilitate the adoption and efficient use of blockchain (AlShamsi et al., 2022). This study aims to identify the barriers to the use of blockchain technology in food waste management systems and applications and to determine their degree of importance. Since there is no detailed data set about barriers, the opinions of experts on blockchain, food waste and food supply chains were taken. The Best-Worst method is a multi-criteria decision-making method that makes linear programming-based calculations in line with expert opinions. The Best-Worst method provides consistent results, so it was preferred as the analysis method in the study. This study is one of the first studies to examine the blockchain compliance in food waste management in line with the theoretical framework and expert opinions. The following questions are sought to be answered within the scope of the study: