EVALUATION OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF FROZEN VEGETABLES: CASE STUDY OF A SPINACH PRODUCING COMPANY.

This work is part of the activities carried out by the Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science of Università Politecnica delle Marche for a Rural Development Program of Marche Region (PSR). The PSR refers to the bioconversion of agricultural and industrial-chain residues through the insect Hermetia illucens. Part of this project consists of the environmental sustainability evaluation of frozen spinach production through a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis, which allows identifying hotspots along the production chain and finding solutions for improving its efficiency. The partnership is ORTO Verde, an agricultural consortium company that produces, stores, and sells frozen vegetables intended for industries, retails, and catering customers into the national and international market. It involves 500 members, 6.000 hectares of soil cultivated each year, and 50.000 tonnes of frozen vegetables processed in 2 plants. This collaboration enhances the credibility of the study due to the company’s importance at a national level and to the primary data of high quality they provided. The LCA analysis refers the results to the functional unit of 1 kg of frozen packaged spinach, produced in many Italian regions (mainly Marche and Puglia). The study includes cultivation, transportation, processing, and packaging steps (“cradle to gate”) through an average technology in 2019. The impact assessment was performed thanks to SimaPro through the CML-IA baseline method. Currently, the company has a biogas plant that anaerobically digests most of the vegetable wastes. However, innovative solutions aimed at reducing the impact of frozen spinach production have been explored. Among the possibilities, the extraction of lutein is attractive because it can be used as a food colourant or to produce functional products, exploiting its health benefits. In addition, spinach wastes can be used to feed insects, such as Hermetia illucens. Subsequently, insect faeces, proteins and lipids can be the raw materials for generating other products, such as compost and biodiesel. Comparing waste management through a Black Soldier Fly (BSF) system and a biogas plant, the first one can be a valid option for replacing the standard anaerobic digestion. According to the calculations, feeding Hermetia illucens with spinach waste reduce the environmental impacts for almost all the impact categories. Further studies should confirm this outcome.