Food waste as the consequence of competing motivations, lack of opportunities, and insufficient abilities

An evaluation of a consumer food waste awareness campaign using the motivation opportunity ability framework

“…The MOA framework explains consumer behavior using three classes of determinants: motivation, opportunity, and ability. Central to the MOA framework is that a new behavior or change in behaviour is more likely to be performed if a consumer perceives it will support their interest and is aware of the consequences of not acting (motivation), has the options available and accessible to encourage the behavior (opportunity), and the skills and competencies to perform the behavior (ability) (de Jonge et al, 2014;van Geffen et al, 2020). Other interpretations of the MOA framework expand the definition of motivation beyond self-interest and include elements from the Theory of Planned Behavior such as behavioral intentions, values, attitudes, subjective norms, needs, habits, as well as goals that can be shifted through awareness (Baumhof et al, 2018;van Geffen et al, 2020;Thøgersen, 2009;MacInnis and Jaworski, 1989).…”

“…However, the success of information-based household food waste interventions is mixed, with some studies demonstrating a 31% decrease in avoidable food waste (van der Werf et al, 2019), while others found no statistically significant differences (Shaw et al, 2018). This study is the first to apply the Motivation Opportunity Ability (MOA) framework (MacInnis et al, 1991;MacInnis and Jaworski, 1989) when testing the application of interventions designed to reduce food waste and contributes to an emerging body of literature applying this framework in the field of food waste studies (van Geffen et al, 2020;von Kameke and Fischer, 2018). This study is also the first to use a qualitative approach for understanding the impact of household food waste interventions.…”

Challenges of Food Waste Governance: An Assessment of European Legislation on Food Waste and Recommendations for Improvement by Economic Instruments

“…In turn, on the one hand convenience, self-interest (time constraints) and scapegoating get in the way of avoiding food wastage [75] (pp. 15, 18-20) [76] (pp. 4,5), while on the other hand the motivation to save money and to feel less guilty (rather than concerns for the environment [71] These observations-which include all actors along the food supply chain, i.e., farmer to consumer-confirm the fundamental conditions of social change and human motivation as discussed in Section 2: knowledge and norms are important factors, but even more so self-interest calculation, path dependencies and conceptions of normality as well as emotions [16].…”

Green economy: waste management and recycling methods

“…2. Workers' health: Waste management and all processes involved can lead to a number of fungal and bacterial infections and diseases by those working in the waste management sector [16].…”

“…Large amounts of food waste from the household sector also mean high costs of collection and transportation as well as separation and treatment at waste management facilities. In addition, there is still a lack of knowledge about local waste prevention, especially about monitoring methods and how local waste management systems can be developed to stimulate waste reduction in households [16]. Waste is an expensive and sometimes unavoidable result of human activities and, if not adequately addressed, can have serious consequences for the environment and the quality of life and health of people.…”