A meta-analytical review of intervention experiments to reduce food waste

Abstract

To reduce food waste, many behavioural intervention experiments have been conducted worldwide, but their effectiveness remains unclear. To assess their impacts, we present a meta-analysis based on 58 studies, selected after screening 1143 papers, which were conducted between 2011 and 2021 covering 26 533 participants. We confirm that behavioural interventions have a moderate effect ( z = 0.22) on food waste reduction, with education programs having the most significant impact and informational feedback having the least. We also show that interventions in elementary and middle school settings marginally improve the overall effect size (P < 0.1), and controlled experiments exhibit a higher effect size compared to pre-post experiments in education interventions (P < 0.05). Finally, we present a roadmap to guide future research in the next decade to further improve our understanding on the effects of behavioural interventions to reduce food waste.

A Systematic Review of Pre-Post Studies Testing Behaviour Change Interventions to Reduce Consumer Food Waste in the Household

“…There is a growing body of literature recognising the threat of household food waste and proposing appropriate solutions; however, there remains a paucity of evidence validating the efficacy of interventions aimed at addressing it [17,18]. Though the existing research is promising, in comparison to the threat of climate change, the outcomes to this point have been unable to meet the demands of the challenge [19,20]. It is important to determine what works, and what does not, in order to focus resources and funding on areas that are more likely to generate significant and timely positive outcomes [7].…”

Nudging Householders to Reduce Avoidable Food Waste: The OzHarvest Use It Up Tape

“…This greatly expanded evidence base has led to further systematic reviews that collate different food waste reduction interventions at the consumption stage and synthesise their outcomes [13][14][15]. Simões et al [13] for example, reviewed 96 studies and identified 18 which specifically engaged consumers in reducing food waste from their households.…”

Reducing food waste by simply measuring it: insights from interventions to reduce household food waste

“…To stimulate food waste prevention, different types of behavioral interventions have been studied (Tian et al, 2022). Several studies have examined prompts (information-based interventions) to make people aware or to communicate information associated with food waste (Lin et al, 2016;van der Werf et al, 2021).…”

“…, 2020). Interested readers are referred to the review of Tian et al. (2022) for an overview of different types of interventions.…”

“…Finally, studies have examined environmental alteration, including attempts to prevent food waste by changing the shape or color of a plate (Carlsson et al, 2021) or by providing measuring cups based on portion sizes, for accurate measurement of ingredients (Van Dooren et al, 2020). Interested readers are referred to the review of Tian et al (2022) for an overview of different types of interventions.…”