G. Olafsdottir1), E. Yngvadottir2), R.E. Gudmundsdottir1), S. Ramos3), E.P. Larsen4), S.G. Bogason1), A. Lane5)
1) University of Iceland, Applied Supply Chain Systems Research Group, Tæknigardur, Dunhagi 5, 107 Reykjavík (Iceland)
2) EFLA Consulting Engineers, Höfdabakki 9, 110 Reykjavík (Iceland)
3) AZTI-Tecnalia, Parque Tecnológico de Bizkaia, Edificio 609; 48160 Derio Bizkaia (Spain)
4) DTU Aqua, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, DTU, Charlottenlund Slot, Jaegersborg Allé 1, DK-2920 Charlottenlund (Denmark)
5) European Aquaculture Society, Slijkensesteenweg, 4 8400 Oostende, Belgium
Introduction
Responsibility in sustainability and environmental issues beyond the operation of the companies is gradually being implemented in aquaculture supply chains. This trend is evidenced by the various standards and certification programmes for aquaculture species available worldwide covering good manufacturing practices and different aspects like quality, organic production, animal welfare, human health, environmental issues and social responsibility. Methods to assess sustainability performance are often not accessible for SMEs. Moreover, data gathering for environmental assessment is often regarded a burden and companies therefore are not willing to undertake such an assessment. However, when given opportunities to implement life cycle tools, there appears to be potential incentives in SMEs to use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results to create an image for the product and the organization, to use in marketing, and for product development (Witczak, 2014). Nevertheless, there are environmental challenges in aquaculture that LCA methodology does not cover which are important to consider when assessing the environmental sustainability of aquaculture supply chains (Olafsdottir et al., 2013)
The SENSE project has developed a web based system which provides a simplified assessment of environmental impacts of food products and addresses also selected social impacts of companies. The tool compiles through the harmonised data collection system the key environmental performance indicators (KEPIS) (e.g. energy and resource use, water consumption, waste and wastewater generation, land occupation, fertilizer use, etc.) and performs an environmental impact assessment for the different life cycle steps of the product (Ramos et al., 2014). The SENSE-tool development is aimed at facilitating self-assessment of sustainability in SMEs and includes besides a simplified environmental assessment some aspects of social impacts. The web based tool supports the EC recommendation on the use of common methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organisations (European Commission, 2013)
The research leading to these results has received funding from the EC Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no. 288974, SENSE- Harmonized Environmental Sustainability in the European Food & Drink Chain. Website: <http://www.senseproject.eu/>
Material and methods
The SENSE tool was implemented in pilot trials in aquaculture supply chains. A link to the web based tool was provided and companies inserted data and performed the calculation in the tool. The SENSE tool performs a simplified environmental assessment for the life cycle. The input data is based on selected KEPIs which are compiled in the SENSE tool and can be extracted as excel tables to facilitate data collection on site. After testing of the SENSE tool, the companies answered a survey questionnaire to obtain their opinion on the usability, benefits and limitation of the tool.
Results
Guidelines provided for the SENSE tool and training videos were useful for the companies when inserting the data, however in some cases further assistance was needed by the developers of the tool to finalise the calculation. The assessment of the deployment of the tool according to the questionnaire survey will be presented. The perceived benefits of the SENSE tool and potential drawbacks will be presented.
Discussion and conclusion
The pilot implementation of the SENSE tool in aquaculture companies has revealed the lack of understanding of key concepts of sustainability assessment such as environmental impacts, social impacts, allocation, impact categories, etc. Issues like lack of willingness to share data and confidentiality was encountered in some of the companies and therefore the benefits to undertake the testing needed to be attractive for the companies. For the purpose of using the results for benchmarking, the limitations of the tool need to be clearly addressed in interpretation of results. Based on the view of the participating SMEs in the aquaculture pilot study the SENSE-tool can be used effectively for promoting their products, but also for training in industry on environmental assessment and to enhance understanding of the concepts of sustainability throughout the whole lifecycle of products.
References
European Commission (2013) COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of 9 April 2013 on the use of common methods to measure and communicate the life cycle environmental performance of products and organisations, Official Journal of the European Union, 2013/179/EU Retrieved from; http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32013H0179&from=EN
Ólafsdóttir G, Viera G, Larsen E, Nielsen T, Ingólfsdóttir G, Yngvadóttir E, Bogason S (2013) Key environmental challenges for food groups and regions representing the variation within the EU, Ch.3 Salmon Aquaculture Supply Chain. SENSE - Harmonised Environmental Sustainability in the European food and drink chain, EC FP7: Project no. 288974, University of Iceland, Reykjavík.
Ramos, S., Larrinaga. L., Albinarrate, U., Jungbluth. N., Doublet, G., Ingolfsdottir, G. M., Yngvadottir, E., Landquist, B., Aronsson, A., Olafsdottir, G., Esturo, A. and Perez-Villareal, B. (2014b) SENSE tool: Easy-to-use web-base tool to calculate food product environmental impact. In: 9th International LCA of Food 8-10 October 2014, San Fransisco, USA
Witczak J, Kasprzak J, Klos Z, Kurczewski P, Lewandowska A, Lewicki R (2014) Life cycle thinking in small and medium enterprises:the results of research on the implementation of life cycle tools in Polish SMEs-part 2: LCA related aspects. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19:891-900. DOI 10.1007/s11367-013-0687-9