Abstract—Food waste has been a global issue which damages the sustainability of the environment, economy, and human beings from the circular economy’s perspective. To reduce food waste of agricultural products in the retail chain, this research tests the effectiveness of five different business models, including for-profit and non-profit types. Be it for-profit or non-profit businesses, the result suggests redesigned regional logistics and e-commerce help reduce food waste. A further investigation on the regional consumer’s purchase behavior and lifestyle can also determine the effectiveness of each business model. Most importantly, the realization of circular economy to reduce agricultural food waste in the retail chain relies on the suppliers and consumers working together for the same goal.

Index Terms—Food waste, circular economy, logistics, business model, e-commerce, sustainable.

Meng-Chun Susan Shen and Chun-Wei Remen Lin are with Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan (email: kesalan@gmail.com).
Hui-Chuan Chen, Pin-Chao Hsu, Tien-Chi Shen are with Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan.

Cite: Meng-Chun Susan Shen, Hui-Chuan Chen, Chun-Wei Remen Lin, Pin-Chao Hsu, Tien-Chi Shen, "Sustainable Business Model to Reduce Food Waste of Agricultural Products in the Retail Chain," International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and e-Learning vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 373-380, 2019.