Smart sustainable solutions for improving coffee supply chain waste efficiency, traceability and introduction of key indicators for sustainability assessment

With millions of tons of coffee husks and due to inadequate supply chain procedures, spent coffee ground and damaged beans thrown away each year. While obstructing possible economic prospects, inadequate waste traceability, uneven regulatory enforcement, and limited valorization attempts further worsen environmental concerns. This paper examines the urgent need to improve the effectiveness and transparency of waste management, showing how supply chain processes can be improved to drastically cut waste and support sustainability goals. This study finds significant flaws in current supply chain governance and waste management strategies through a methodical analysis of policy reports, academic literature, and secondary data. The findings bring to light insufficient traceability mechanisms all along the chain, which can lead to struggles in resource recovery and difficulties in identifying where and why waste occurs. This issue may engender excessive losses at various stages and quality degradation. All these challenges can be mitigated through improved sustainable operational practices. The sustainability assessment of the coffee supply chain and its waste management remains a long, complex process. A major contribution of this study is the introduction of sustainability indicators, along with their variables and subvariables, to systematically evaluate the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of coffee supply chain and its waste management. Results put forward a structured framework for evaluating sustainability and revealing critical intervention points for implementing digital traceability solutions, such as blockchain technologies and IoT-based monitoring systems. These technologies can significantly enhance waste tracking, optimize resource utilization, and reinforce compliance with national and international sustainability standards. By promoting a comprehensive approach that mixes policy reforms, innovative technologies, and upgraded stakeholder collaboration, this study suggests practical strategies for minimizing waste and optimizing the overall coffee supply chain efficiency. Strengthening traceability will be crucial in steering the coffee industry toward a more sustainable, resilient, and circular economic model.