Food Waste of Italian Families: Proportion in Quantity and Monetary Value of Food Purchases

Abstract

Halving per capita food waste (FW) is one of the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to evaluate the weight and monetary values of food waste among a sample of Italian families. In a representative sample of 1142 families, the adults responsible for food purchases and in charge of preparing meals were assessed with a self-administrated questionnaire measuring quantity and typology of FW. These data were linked with food purchases figures measured as an average of four weeks. Italian families wasted 399 kg of food per week (4.4% of the weight of food purchased), which correspond to a monetary value of €1.052 (3.8% of the overall food expenditure). Clustering the food groups according to waste quantity, typology, and monetary value made it possible to show that price has a role in the generation of food waste, as the lower the unitary cost, the higher the quantity of waste. Consequently, foods with high unitary costs were less wasted. The results of this study showed that Italian consumers are sensitive to the economic impact of waste and this should be considered in sensitization campaigns.

The Italian Observatory on Food Surplus, Recovery, and Waste: The Development Process and Future Achievements

“…During coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, considering the exceptionality of the situation, the OERSA undertook a special assessment to monitor the food habits of Italian consumers and to understand their attitude toward food waste during the period of lockdown between March and April 2020. The results of the data collection were collected in 3 reports (13-15) and 3 peer-review publications (16)(17)(18).…”

“…The detailed results of this study were released through an OERSA report (in Italian) (13) and a scientific paper (16). Data on household food waste were further linked and duly elaborated with the data on food product purchases in supermarkets and large-scale retailers as the amount of food bought and its economic value (18). This study aims to evaluate the weight and monetary values of food waste among a sample of the Italian families, which reported a total amount of 399 kg of food waste per week (4.4% of the weight of the overall food purchased), corresponding to a monetary value of e1,052 (3.8% of the overall food expenditure).…”

Single Cell Protein Production through Multi Food-Waste Substrate Fermentation

“…The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has estimated that one third of all food production is lost or wasted globally, equivalent to 1.3 billion tons of food produced for human consumption wasted each year with an economic loss of EUR 800 billion [3]. About 44-47% is represented by vegetable, fruit, fish and meat produced every year and wasted [4]. Normally, most of these wastes are incinerated or go to landfill sites [5].…”

Valorization of Kiwi Peels: Fractionation, Bioactives Analyses and Hypotheses on Complete Peels Recycle

“…In this context, and according to the principles of the circular economy, great interest of the scientific community nowadays is devoted to the recycling and the valorization of agri-waste products to transform them into added value by-products. As reported by Aureli et al [ 5 ], in a study on the food waste of an Italian family, “reducing food waste along the entire food supply chain is an important policy priority included in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030”.…”