Digital Platforms Bridge 'Circularity Holes' in Food Waste Recovery

Why It Matters

This research highlights a novel approach to tackling food waste by leveraging digital technology. Understanding the brokerage roles of these platforms can inform the design of more efficient and sustainable food supply chains, leading to reduced environmental impact and improved resource utilization.

Key Finding

New digital platforms are emerging as 'circularity brokers' that help connect food businesses with surplus or at-risk food to those who can use it, effectively reducing waste by filling gaps in the supply chain. They do this through six key functions: connecting parties, providing information, ensuring protection, mobilizing resources, integrating processes, and measuring outcomes.

Key Findings

• Digital platform organizations can act as 'circularity brokers' to address 'circularity holes' in food supply chains.
• Six distinct brokerage roles were identified: connecting, informing, protecting, mobilizing, integrating, and measuring.

Research Evidence

Aim: How do digital platform organizations, acting as 'circularity brokers', foster waste recovery by bridging 'circularity holes' in the food supply chain?

Method: Interpretive inductive theory-building approach

Procedure: The study investigated digital platform organizations that function as intermediaries in food waste recovery. Researchers identified and explicated six key brokerage roles (connecting, informing, protecting, mobilizing, integrating, and measuring) that these platforms perform to facilitate the transfer of discarded resources.

Context: Food supply chains

Design Principle

Leverage digital platforms to create connections and bridge information or logistical gaps in resource recovery processes.

How to Apply

Develop or utilize digital platforms that facilitate the exchange of surplus or waste materials between producers and potential users, focusing on the identified brokerage functions.

Limitations

The study focuses specifically on the food supply chain and may not be directly generalizable to all types of waste recovery.

Student Guide (IB Design Technology)

Simple Explanation: Digital apps can help stop food from being thrown away by connecting businesses that have extra food with those who can use it, like charities or other food producers.

Why This Matters: This research shows how technology can be used to solve real-world problems like food waste, making supply chains more efficient and ethical.

Critical Thinking: To what extent can the 'brokerage roles' identified in the food industry be applied to other waste streams, such as electronic waste or construction debris?

IA-Ready Paragraph: The research by Ciulli, Kolk, and Bøe-Lillegraven (2019) highlights the potential of digital platform organizations to act as 'circularity brokers' within food supply chains. By identifying and bridging 'circularity holes'—gaps where waste generators cannot connect with potential receivers—these platforms facilitate waste recovery. Their work explicates six key brokerage roles: connecting, informing, protecting, mobilizing, integrating, and measuring, offering a framework for designing effective digital solutions for resource management and waste reduction.

Project Tips

• Consider how digital platforms can solve waste problems in a specific industry.
• Map out the 'circulatory holes' in a given supply chain before designing a solution.

How to Use in IA

• Reference this study when exploring digital solutions for waste reduction or circular economy initiatives in your design project.

Examiner Tips

• Demonstrate an understanding of how digital intermediaries can facilitate circular economy principles.

Independent Variable: Digital platform organization (as a 'circularity broker')

Dependent Variable: Waste recovery (reduction of food waste)

Controlled Variables: ["Nature of the food supply chain","Existing logistical infrastructure"]

Strengths

• Identifies a novel actor ('circularity broker') in waste recovery.
• Provides a detailed framework of brokerage roles.

Critical Questions

• What are the economic incentives for these digital platforms to operate?
• How can the scalability of these platforms be ensured across different geographical and regulatory contexts?

Extended Essay Application

• Investigate the feasibility of developing a digital platform to connect local businesses with surplus materials for reuse or recycling, analyzing the potential brokerage roles required.

Source

Circularity Brokers: Digital Platform Organizations and Waste Recovery in Food Supply Chains · Journal of Business Ethics · 2019 · 10.1007/s10551-019-04160-5