Policies for effective management of bread waste: A scoping review

Abstract

Bread waste is a highly notable yet frequently overlooked component of worldwide food loss, incurring devastating economic, environmental and cultural ramifications along the supply chain. This article compares policy initiatives to reduce bread waste in 17 nations using a multi-level classification regime (regulatory, economic, informational, voluntary, technological and integrated). Empirical data from 27 international studies describe intervention effectiveness from production inception to end use. The main conclusion is that legally enforced regulatory frameworks are significantly more effective than voluntary market-based approaches. Instruments like France’s statute on donations and South Korea’s recycling legislation assure high, quantifiable compliance rates, whereas voluntary alliances (e.g. Germany’s retailer associations) often lead to uneven implementation and a modest aggregate effect. The analysis reveals complex policy trade-offs and paradoxical results of instruments like Sweden’s retailer Take-Back Agreements (TBAs). TBAs, designed to mitigate financial burdens, incentivized bakeries to practice Kramer-bashing (i.e. they would bake excessively and return more). Conversely, thoughtful economic reform, as typified by subsidy adjustments in Egypt and Jordan, outlines how careful restructuring improves supply chain efficiency while simultaneously remedying pressing problems of food equity. Additionally, achieving a notable reduction is subject to behavioural strategy implementation, underscored by the pivotal role of informational and culturally suitable campaigns in Turkey and the United Kingdom in realizing sizable potential for household waste reduction. The article concludes that efficient bread waste management necessitates an all-inclusive, integrated policy framework that strategically integrates compulsory regulations, market-based incentives and culturally suitable behavioural methods to advocate sustained reductions along the whole value chain.