Food waste is one of the main contributors to economic disparities, social inequalities and environmental pollution. Numerous studies have sought to understand the drivers of food waste at various stages in the food supply chain, including the consumption stage. Based on a quantitative analysis of 252 Romanian consumers, the present study shows that gender is an important factor that affects the individuals’ attitudes and behaviours in regard to food and a potential factor that could affect the amount of food wasted. The study found that attitudes towards food waste evolve as individuals age, and that, at each stage, women tend to be more concerned about the negative impact of food waste on social equity or the family budget than men. In addition, women were found to display behaviours in regard to food acquisition and preparation that can result in higher food waste in a larger degree than men, even though the study found no differences in the actual amount of food wasted by the two genders. The results of the study are important because they show the need to adapt the public awareness campaigns on food waste on the particularities of each gender across several age groups.

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As formed by humans, which are living creatures full of contradictions, our society is characterized as well by lots of paradoxes. One could say that it has never been so wealthy and educated, while others would declare themselves as being grateful for a simple glass of water or a slice of bread, as the world wide abundance of goods and opportunities is counterpointed by deep scarcity, sometimes not too far from the sources of waste. Therefore, quite large amounts of edible food that could have been consumed end up in landfills, thus contributing to environmental pollution and social disparities. Despite many studies conducted in order to better understand the causes of this phenomenon, and although at the EU and UN level some actions were taken in order to reduce consumer food waste, the topic still remains open and it lacks a clear and impactful approach. In this light, we made use of the results of previous studies, and we built the causal model, FEED, based on system dynamics, with the aim to explore the impact of the evolution of educational attainment on the aggregate of household food waste. We then translated the model into the tenet of the dynamic simulation software, TRUE. There was no reinforcing loop displayed by FEED causal loop version, fact aligned with the evolution of our goal-variable when the simulation of the model was run, a result that make us to suspect the possibility of reducing food waste in the foreseeable future.

Researchers have focused on the influence of organizational models in the actions, and subsequent outcomes of organizations and the results support the view that there is indeed an association between certain features of organizational models and organizational performance outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to map the organizational models used by Portuguese companies to identify possible dominant patterns and search for differences across several dimensions (sector, size, number of customers; internal/external market). The results show a level of organizational hybridism with several models applied simultaneously and with smaller firms showing a higher emphasis on dialogue, flexibility, and response capability. There is also a general preference among Portuguese companies for the bureaucratic organizational model. The results also indicate that organizations that adopt the bureaucratic model seem to be able to implement systematic processes innovation making compatible the rules and procedures with the ability to learn and adapt.