Such a Shame! A Study on Self-Perception of Household Food Waste

Abstract

Reducing food waste is globally considered as a key challenge in developing sustainable food systems. Although most food waste is generated at the household level, consumers hardly recognize their responsibility, and the factors underpinning their perception of the quantity of food wasted at home are still unclear. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the results of a large-scale survey conducted in Italy. The perceived quantity of household food waste was measured through a Likert scale and analyzed by means of a logistic regression against a set of predictors, including food waste motivations, perception of the effects of food waste, and sociodemographic variables. As expected, the perceived quantity of food waste declared by respondents was very low. Among the main determinants, food shopping habits and the level of awareness about the reasons why food is wasted played a key role. In contrast, the perception of the environmental effects of food waste seemed to be less important. Differences among subsamples recruited in different areas of Italy were detected, suggesting that further studies, as well as awareness-raising policies, should also consider context-related variables.

Household Food Waste: A Case Study in Southern Italy

“…Additionally, on average, they represent the segment that most reuses leftovers, confirming that this practice is useful in reducing wasteful behaviour [8,17]. However, given that its potential is not yet fully appreciated by households, due primarily to uncertainty regarding leftover edibility or safety [19,28], it is crucial to provide information on managing leftovers, for example, by holding waste cookery classes as suggested by previous research [7,11]. Blue Cluster consumers are also particularly sensitive to environmental concerns related to food waste, confirming the role of concerns in influencing responsible food behaviour and the intention to reduce food waste [11,12].…”

“…In addition, the regions in southern Italy show a lower incidence of food waste than that Sustainability 2020, 12, 1495 9 of 13 in central or northern Italy [30,39]. However, it must be highlighted that previous research showed that the self-assessment of household food waste is systematically underestimated [28,30,39].…”

“…Participants had to indicate their level of concern about each item on a Likert scale ranging from 1 = not at all concerned to 5 = very concerned. The third section of the questionnaire included questions and scales concerning the frequency of food waste behaviour, motivations that drive FW behaviour [28], food categories most wasted and the percentage of FW weekly produced, measured using a four-item scale from less than 10% to 50%. Respondents' intentions to reduce FW and motivations to prevent FW were measured respectively using two scales from previous research [8,16].…”

“…Compared with the recent research carried out in Italy [10,15,28,29], this paper presents original in-depth contributions regarding the geographical area considered and the methodology chosen. Since southern Italian regions, according to previous studies [30], have been shown to produce lower levels of food waste than regions in northern Italy, an in-depth analysis of the drivers behind food waste in this area could be considered an interesting case study.…”

“…Finally, the literature proves that the amount of food waste increases with the number of occupants in a household [25,26] and that households with more children produce more food waste [7,25].So, according to the existing literature, food waste is the result of multiple, interacting consumer-related factors [7,27]. This makes food waste analysis particularly interesting at the consumer level, as there are great opportunities to reduce and prevent such waste [28]. In addition, profiling consumers can help to better understand what kinds of policies and tools could be used to stimulate behavioural changes [29].…”