This paper presents the results of a questionnaire and food waste diary study on the influence of socio‐demographical, behavioural and attitudinal factors on the amount of avoidable household food waste in 380 Finnish households. The research data were collected through a 2‐week food waste diary study accompanied by a background questionnaire. The influences of socio‐demographical, behavioural and attitudinal factors on the production of food waste were studied through application of descriptive statistics. It was established that only few factors clearly correlate with the amount of avoidable food waste. The factors that influenced the amount of food wasted were the size of the household, the gender of the person mainly responsible of grocery shopping, the frequency of buying discounted food products, the respondent's own view of the potential to reduce food waste and the respondent's own view of the influence of purchasing particular food packet sizes. The main factors with which no clear correlation was detected included age of the oldest person in household; area, form and type of residence; educational level and type of work of adults in the family; and shopping, food preparation and eating habits.
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.
Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm: 412925 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to determine the volume and quality of food waste in Finnish households and discuss drivers for waste being produced. Design/methodology/approach -In total, 380 households weighed all solid food waste and liquid milk waste daily each time they disposed food during a two-week period. The authors concentrated only on avoidable food waste, i.e. all wasted food and raw material that could have been consumed, had they been stored or prepared differently. Other biowaste, such as vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, or bones, was not measured. Findings -The amount of food waste in households ranged from 0 to 160 kg/year. The average annual food waste was 23 kg per capita, 63 kg per household, and in total about 120 million kg/year. When comparing purchased food amount with avoidable food waste, the average waste was about 4-5 per cent. The main discarded foodstuffs were vegetables, home-cooked food and milk products. The principal reasons for disposing of foodstuffs were spoilage: e.g. mould, expiry of best before or use by date, plate leftovers, and preparing more food than needed. When examining waste per person, singles generally produced most waste. Practical implications -Knowledge about food waste will help development of new practices to decrease waste. Originality/value -The study estimated amounts of food waste in households using diaries and weighing. Such studies have often been based on statistics or interviews rather than exact weighing of waste.
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