Food waste reduction interventions

Food waste is responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Richards, 2020), and represents a major contemporary environmental challenge due to its profound impact on our ecosystems. Food waste production occurs much more at the household than at the business level (Hebrok & Heidenstrøm, 2019). Therefore, developing interventions that promote food-related behavior with low environmental, social, and economic impact is highly desirable. Strategies (see Attiq et al., 2021) at the consumer level generally target the 3Rs: reduction (e.g., minimization of food waste), reuse (e.g., transforming leftovers), and recycling (e.g., fertilizer production). However, greater attention to a more aware food procurement (e.g., type and dimension of packaging when purchasing at the retail level) and storage (e.g., preserving food attentively) may be additional target behaviors. Traditional and digital interventions based on socio-cognitive processes and tailored communication might be useful to promote food waste reduction behavior.

1) Designing tailored traditional and digital interventions based on socio-cognitive processes and behavioral nudges to be used with consumers aimed to: i) detect and monitor specific food choices and habits (e.g., sustainable foods preferences, packaging choices, food conservation habits); ii) measure involved socio-cognitive processes (e.g., sustainability-related beliefs, awareness, subjective norms, motivations, emotions); iii) deliver personalized communications and interventions (e.g., through primes of values, norms, use of feedback, graphic stimuli).
2) Involving potential interested stakeholders (e.g., retailers, policy makers).
3) Testing and assessing interventions and strategies, based on different segments of consumers and different target behaviors.
4) Communication and Dissemination plan.

1. Increasing knowledge about the socio-psychological factors underpinning different behaviors related to food waste reduction.

2. Increasing consumers’ awareness about environmental, social, and economic impact of their food-related behavior.

3. Pinpointing both traditional and digital effective interventions to be used with specific targets and behaviors in order to reduce food waste.

4. Providing guidelines to stakeholders about the most promosing interventions to promote responsible and informed food policies aimed at food waste reduction.