Pasquale Marcello Falcone

Bringing a Sharing Economy Approach into the Food Sector: The Potential of Food Sharing for Reducing Food Waste

According to the UN estimates, world population will increase to over 8 billion by 2030. Increasing demand for food and raw materials will place additional pressure on limited natural resources. In this context, the current levels of food waste in advanced economies are no longer economically, socially and environmentally sustainable over the long term. Structural changes will be needed along the whole supply chain as well as in consumers’ attitudes and behaviours. The sharing economy is actually playing an important role in trying to achieve more sustainable patterns, also within the food sector. In particular, several initiatives and start-ups are being developed in the US and Europe, involving the collection and use of the excess of food from consumers and retailers and the promotion of collaborative consumption models. However, the correlation between food sharing practices and reduced food waste cannot be taken for granted. This chapter identified the literacy contours of this relationship, highlighting how food sharing is frequently undermined by social factors and that to make it effective specific skills are needed. Moreover, a major effort towards general routines and practices, which underpin individual-level behavior, is required to tackle food waste in a more effective manner.

How much does economic crisis affect sustainability transitions? A social network analysis of the Italian biofuel sector

The present paper investigates the impact of he current economic crisis on the process of sustainability transitions by exploring the case of a green niche, namely the biofuel sector. From a methodological point of view, we employ a social network analysis aimed at comparing the Italian biofuel niche in two different time periods, specifically before and during the crisis. Our findings provide evidence that biofuel actors are responding to the economic crisis by raising the degree of their knowledge exchange. At the same time, they are exhibiting a general scepticism about the future development of the niche, showing a lower level of expectations compared to that of 2007 (i.e. before the crisis). These results suggest that the economic crisis is concretely hindering the transition towards a biofuel-based regime by affecting the degree of maturity of the niche.

Victims in the ‘Land of Fires’: Illegal Waste Disposal in the Campania Region, Italy

The ‘Land of Fires’ indicates an area in Campania, in the south of Italy, where, systematically, since the end of the 1980s, toxic wastes have been illegally burned and buried. Organized mafia-like crime plays a significant role in the illegal management of waste in this area; however, organized mafia-like criminals are not the only players. Although in the public opinion the mafia clans are the most important subjects involved in the illegal waste business, a significant role is also played in this field by many businessmen, firms, and bureaucrats. Corruption is a crucial element that connects all these actors in the waste sector, characterized by the grant of public licenses and authorizations. All these conditions hamper the competition and facilitate the creation and the development of oligopolistic forces, where the strength of mafia intimidation turns out to be particularly effective. The weak enforcement power at both national and regional levels has been used to explain this widespread illegal situation, but responsibilities actually lie at various governance levels, spanning from inefficient bureaucracy to political patronage and criminal malfeasance. Moreover, the lack of adequate (and effectively enforced) waste management policies has created institutional and regulatory uncertainty, which has fostered the illegal market of waste. On these premises, the case study shows the role that local associations and organizations have played in the land of fires becoming a reference point for the victims of those waste-related environmental crimes. The findings obtained throughout the development of an affiliation network analysis allow us to say that victims are strengthening their relationships with local associations in the network and are starting to reinforce their sociopolitical and judicial actions. The increasing level of victims’ organizational activities in the land of fires from 2008 up to now is, in fact, creating public awareness on the impacts of illegally disposing and burning of waste, thus shedding light on the capacity of civil society to influence policy changes and decision makers at national level.