Household Attitudes and Behavior towards the Food Waste Generation before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania

Abstract

Food waste represents an important aspect with social, economic, and environmental implications. As previous studies underlined, the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in the food consumption patterns among consumers. The aim of the study was to investigate the main changes in household food waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania compared with the period before the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors affecting food waste were also analyzed. Data were collected among Romanian households using an online administrated questionnaire. The 784 usable questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Cluster analysis. Consumers’ food shopping habits have become more sustainable during the pandemic, with a positive impact on waste management. The amount of the food losses decreased, people found ways to valorize the food scraps. The Cluster analysis of 25 food waste behavior factors lead to a 3 clusters solution: “wasters” (n = 264), “careless consumers” (n = 227), “careful consumers” (n = 359). While the “wasters” group was represented by consumers who chose to plan the shopping and the menu for the next period, were represented mainly by males with a lower level of education, the “careless consumers” did not choose to plan before going shopping, they discharge lower quantities of food compared with the first group. The “careful consumers” proved to be the most organized one, being preoccupied about the menu planning and reuse of leftovers. People became more conscious about their shopping habits; however, not all groups greatly improved their habits. The results indicate that more actions are needed to increase the awareness at the household level regarding food waste management and sustainable consumption during changing times.

A review of the effects of COVID-19 on food waste

“…Both studies described three types of wasters, defined by combinations of the previously mentioned characteristics. Specifically, they partly confirmed patterns associated with: gender (Muresan et al, 2022 ), observing a higher reported percentage of food waste among men (Amicarelli et al, 2021 ); and age, noting the greater food waste production of younger generations (in contrast with their greater awareness of the issue), due to their irresponsible shopping and preparation habits (thereby confirming the observations of Cosgrove et al ( 2021 )). Their findings also aligned with the previously noted associations between food waste and gender, showing lower food waste production by women, whose perceptions of food changed during the pandemic; and education, reporting a lower volume of food waste among highly educated people, which did not match their level of awareness.…”

“…Furthermore, the studies noted greater attention toward food waste among women, compared to men. More specifically, women were shown to give more attention to food preparation and management, with the result that they generated less food waste than men, during the pandemic (Amicarelli et al, 2021 ; Jribi et al, 2020 ; Muresan et al, 2022 ; Qian et al, 2020 ; Vidal-Mones et al, 2021 ). This finding underlines a common gender bias in households, whereby women are most often in charge of shopping and cooking.…”

“…In addition, consumers reported that they acquired greater awareness of the environmental and economic impacts of food waste (Pappalardo et al, 2020 ; Pires et al, 2021 ; Qian et al, 2020 ) during the pandemic. These reported changes may have varied according to a cluster of factors, ranging from socio-demographic characteristics such as gender and age (Amicarelli et al, 2021 ; Jribi et al, 2020 ; Muresan et al, 2022 ; Qian et al, 2020 ; Vidal-Mones et al, 2021 ;), to socio-economic factors such as price and income employment insecurity (Babbitt et al, 2021 ; Cequea et al, 2021 ; Jribi et al, 2020 ; Qian et al, 2020 ; Roe et al, 2020 ; Schmitt et al, 2021 ; Vargas-Lopez et al, 2021 ). Therefore, it could be argued that the pandemic increased consumers’ intentions to develop sustainable patterns and lifestyles.…”

“…In the studies, different associations were drawn between demographic variables (e.g., gender, age, provenance, income, number of household members, education) and food waste production, showing that these variables define the basic circumstances that drive consumer choice. In particular, gender and age (Berjan et al, 2021 ; Brizi & Biraglia, 2021 ; Burlea-Schiopoui et al, 2021 ; Chen et al, 2021 ; Cosgrove et al, 2021 ; Principato et al, 2020 ; Qian et al, 2020 ; Vidal-Mones et al, 2021 ), level of education (Jribi et al, 2020 ), income and relative change in income (Heikal Ismail et al, 2020 ; Jribi et al, 2020 ; Rodgers et al, 2021 ; Vargas-Lopez et al, 2021 ), employment (Scacchi et al, 2021 ; Scharadin et al, 2021 ), and number of household members (Everitt et al, 2021 ; Pappalardo et al, 2020 ; Qian et al, 2020 ; Vidal-Mones et al, 2021 ) were the most debated factors, and shown to be significantly associated with food waste during the pandemic (Amicarelli et al, 2021 ; Muresan et al, 2022 ). Most studies highlighted the lower volume of food waste generated by women, older people, and people with low income.…”

“…Significantly, a combination of all of these socio-demographic factors was proposed by Muresan et al ( 2022 ) and Amicarelli et al ( 2021 ), with the aim of identifying clusters of food wasters during the pandemic in Romania and a region of Italy, respectively. Both studies described three types of wasters, defined by combinations of the previously mentioned characteristics.…”