Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action

Aschemann‐Witzel, Jessica; Hooge, Ilona E. de; Amani, Pegah; Bech‐Larsen, Tino; Oostindjer, Marije

doi:10.3390/su7066457

Cited by 681 publications

(579 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Beyond these basic factors, several studies and surveys have found that consumers' culinary skills and, more generally, information and awareness on the wider implications of food (e.g., nutritional properties and related dietary effects, conditions of safe use, cultural aspects, social and environmental implications) have a positive correlation with a reduced generation of FW in the households, since they contribute to create a positive attitude towards good practices at different levels: planning of food shopping and meals at home, food storage, meal preparation and portioning, reuse of leftovers and optimisation of food available at home, donation of the food that cannot be consumed for any reason, and sorting of kitchen waste [13][14][15]17,22,25,104,134,147,153,154,158,[175][176][177].…”

Section: Fw Drivers Related To Consumers' Individual Behaviours Modifmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Waste Drivers in Europe, from Identification to Possible Interventions

Canali

Amani

Aramyan³

et al. 2016

Sustainability

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Abstract:The growing volumes of food globally lost or wasted and implications for food security and sustainability have raised the concern of researchers, governments, international organizations and grass-root movements. Much research and experiences investigating food waste causes and drivers focus on one specific segment of the food supply chain and limit the analysis to the situation of one or few countries, while the few studies of wider geographical scope also target other relevant and diversified objectives (e.g., food waste definition, quantification, environmental and economic impacts, and recommendations for interventions). This study, carried out by a network of European institutions involved in research and initiatives against food waste, focuses on the analysis of a broad area, Europe, through a wide and systematic literature review and consultation with stakeholders in international focus groups. The food supply chain was divided into seven segments and three main contexts were defined for the examination of food waste sources: Technological, Institutional (related to organisational factors, i.e., business management, economy, legislation, and policy), and Social (related to consumers' behaviours and lifestyles). Results suggest a wide and multifaceted problem, interconnected across all stages of the food supply chain, from primary production, to final consumption. Within each context, the identified drivers have been grouped according to the possibilities and the type of interventions for food waste reduction. A final cross-contextual prioritization distinguished food waste sources related to (A) inherent characteristics of food; (B) social and economic factors; (C) individual non-readily changeable behaviours; (D) other priorities targeted by private and public stakeholders; (E) diversified factors, such as mismanagement, inefficient legislation, lack of awareness or information; and sub-optimal use of available technologies, which could be more promptly changed. Such diversification of causes calls for specific monitoring systems, targeted policy measures, and actions of individual stakeholders at each stage of the food supply chain.

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Section: Fw Drivers Related To Consumers' Individual Behaviours Modifmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food Waste Drivers in Europe, from Identification to Possible Interventions

Canali

Amani

Aramyan³

et al. 2016

Sustainability

Self Cite

175

224

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Health issues are considered to be part of the numerous trends which have recently appeared on the food market [24] and seem to have a personal and social value [25]. Nowadays, consumers are more informed about the food they are eating and they have become more aware of the link between food and health [5].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumers’ Attitudes towards Organic Products and Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Romania

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Organic food consumption has increased during the last years as a consequence of its direct impact on consumer health, life style, and social convenience as well as on the environment and sustainable development. Compared to the European level, the consumption of organic food products is quite low in Romania. This paper investigates the perception and attitudes of the organic food consumers from the North-West Development Region of Romania. Consumers' perception towards organic food products was measured using 30 items. The data were collected from 568 respondents and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A factor-cluster approach was used to identify consumer groups. The findings indicated that health concerns, sensory appeal, sustainable consumption and weight concerns are the main reasons for consuming organic food products. Three main groups of organic food consumers were identified: "gourmand", "environmentally concerned" and "health concerned".

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“…A wide variety of psychological factors, such as attitude, perceived behavior control, and subjective norms, have been identified as influential in household waste recycling behavior. Furthermore, in recent years, there has been increasing awareness towards household KW, especially towards how to reduce household KW at the source in developed countries [35][36][37][38][39][40]. However, few researchers have considered the KW separately in developing countries, or the difference between recyclable (e.g., paper, aluminum, plastic, glass, cardboard, and batteries) and KW, and all have treated the entire waste as a whole in their studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Model of Chinese Household Kitchen Waste Separation Behavior: A Case Study in Beijing City

et al. 2016

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High participation rates by the public in authority projects are key in increasing resident recycling levels. Understanding waste separation behavior is crucial to achieving sustainable waste management within such household-based schemes. To identify the driving forces behind the seldom-discussed kitchen garbage separation behavior, five psychological factors, namely, attitude, perceived behavior control, subjective norms, moral norms, and responsibility denial, are established. Our data originate from a social study of Beijing citizens conducted in July 2013 (n = 362). Through structural equation modeling, we find that moral norms are consistently the most important predictor of household kitchen waste (KW) separation behavior. Subjective norms have a larger effect on such behavior than responsibility denial. Data analysis shows that perceived behavior control contributes significantly and independently to the explanation of such behavior. By contrast, attitude towards KW separation is found to be significantly negatively correlated with separation behavior. In conclusion, the model with direct and indirect effects of psychological factors explains 50.3% of the variance in household KW source separation behavior. Implications of the results for the promotion of household KW separation programs are discussed.

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Consumer-Related Food Waste: Causes and Potential for Action

Cited by 681 publications

References 59 publications

Food Waste Drivers in Europe, from Identification to Possible Interventions

Food Waste Drivers in Europe, from Identification to Possible Interventions

Consumers’ Attitudes towards Organic Products and Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Romania

Model of Chinese Household Kitchen Waste Separation Behavior: A Case Study in Beijing City

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