Eco-Feedback for Food Waste Reduction in a Student Residence

Abstract

Eco-feedback aims at increasing awareness of resource use to encourage conservation. A growing area of concern in sustainable living is food waste, and many new institutional waste receptacles incorporate waste sorting and recycling instructions for waste management. However, little attention has been paid to the design of encouraging awareness of waste in the home, particularly at the point of food waste. We explored the design challenges and effectiveness of novel eco-feedback techniques at the point of food waste through an in-situ study in a university residence. Our E-COmate system captures and visualizes domestic food waste data for more readily comprehensible and accessible information within a home environment embedded in an existing waste bin. Four E-COmate smart bins were introduced, deployed and evaluated for 8 weeks at a student residence in Canada. The aim of the study was to see whether a system like E-COmate could impact food waste patterns and awareness, and if so, to what extent it engages consumers. To explore its impact, a mix of methods was adopted. Waste audits were conducted to explore waste changes. Retrospective interviews were carried out to gain insights in residences' reflections and motivations. We show that E-COmate had a positive impact on participants' awareness of and behavior toward their food waste. Participants who had E-COmate installed in their kitchens showed overall a significant decrease in food waste and in particular a decrease of almost 32% in edible or once edible food waste, and a 69% decrease in generated compost waste during the last 2 weeks compared to the first 2 baseline weeks. Furthermore, while our control group showed an increase of 244% of waste of starches and grains toward the last 2 weeks (i.e., the end of term) compared to the 2 baseline weeks, the intervention group only showed an increase of 4.5% in waste of grains and starches. Eco-feedback further engaged residences in reducing food waste practices starting at the grocery store (e.g., by buying in smaller portions). In sum, eco-feedback as provided by E-COmate had positive impacts on reducing food waste. These findings are a result of increased awareness, the constant presence and immediacy of E-COmate served as a reminder, and their understanding of how much they actually waste as a group. Their awareness was reflected in how they adapted their shopping behavior as one way to reduce waste at home.

Promoting sustainable consumption among university students: a systematic literature review

“…The awareness of food waste increased by using apps, but did not result in measurable effects (Mathisen and Johansen, 2022). The third and fourth articles indicated that food waste decreased by 32%−69% (Lim et al , 2021); however, the reduction in food waste (17%) was not statistically significant (Ahmed et al , 2018).…”

“…There are also ways to make preferred foods more nutritious (Blow et al, 2022), or to reduce waste by modifying portions or changing the silverware used to serve them (Ahmed et al, 2018). Technological solutions that provide feedback to users have been used; these include smartphone applications that record consumption (Mathisen and Johansen, 2022) and smart units for waste disposal (Lim et al, 2021). 4.2.2 Plastic waste.…”

A Take-Home Message: Workplace Food Waste Interventions Influence Household Pro-environmental Behaviors

“…Our study contributes to the evolving literature on behavioral spillover effects in various ways. Although interventions highlighting the environmental impact of food behaviors are widely advocated to achieve positive spillovers, there is limited evidence for this from real-world settings (Asensio & Delmas, 2015;Capstick et al, 2019;Lim et al, 2021;Maki et al, 2019;Nomura, John, & Cotterill, 2011;Wolstenholme et al, 2020). Several studies also note that environmental impacts are frequently ignored or underestimated by consumers (Camilleri, Larrick, Hossain, & Patino-Echeverri, 2019;Gil, 2020;Wolstenholme et al, 2020), which further calls into question if environmental framing can effectively reduce food waste behaviors or promote positive spillovers.…”

“…Secondly, this study was conducted in an under-explored field setting in Macau, China. Most previous research on food waste interventions was carried out in American or European countries (Reisch et al, 2020), and smart bins and feedback were typically installed in residential households (Lim et al, 2021;Roe et al, 2022), rather than the workplace. Therefore, our Chinese sample and workplace setting provide valuable insights into food waste management on a global scale.…”

“…The evidence of contextual spillovers is very limited for consumer food behaviors (Verfuerth, Jones, Gregory-Smith, & Oates, 2019). Previous studies predominantly investigate food waste behaviors within one context, either in residential households (e.g., Roe et al, 2022;van der Werf, Seabrook, & Gilliland, 2021;Graham-Rowe et al, 2014;Visschers et al, 2016), workplaces, university halls, or cafeterias (Kallbekken & Saelen, 2013;Lim et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2022;Richardson et al, 2021;Sebbane & Costa, 2018).…”