Policy framing, design and feedback can increase public support for costly food waste regulation

Abstract

About one-third of all food produced for human consumption worldwide is wasted, particularly in highincome countries. Reducing this waste is key to decreasing negative environmental impacts from the food sector and increasing food security in developing countries. Yet, achieving food waste reduction is challenging. It is widely presumed that efforts at stricter food waste regulation may increase food prices, and hence consumer and citizen opposition could render such ambitious regulation politically unfeasible.Here, we argue that appropriate policy framing, design, and feedbacks can ensure public support despite food price increases. Our empirical analysis uses survey experiments with a population-representative sample (N=3'329) from a typical high-income country, Switzerland. First, in a combined framing and conjoint experiment, we show that messages emphasizing national or international social norms in favor of reducing food waste (policy framing) can increase public support for more ambitious reduction targets.We also show that a majority of citizens support food waste regulation, even if this leads to substantial increases in food prices, but only if such policies set stringent reduction targets and are transparently monitored (policy design). Finally, in a vignette experiment, we show that voluntary industry initiatives do not crowd out individuals' support for stricter governmental regulation, but potentially crowd-in support if industry initiatives are unambitious (policy feedback). Our research offers an analytical template for studying public support for food waste regulation and shows that there is more political room for adopting ambitious policies than hitherto presumed.

Turning Food Protein Waste into Sustainable Technologies

“…Global food production is estimated to be 4 Gton/year, indicating that for each kg of food, 4.7 kg of CO 2 is generated and released into the environment. As mentioned in the introduction, approximately one-third of the food produced globally becomes wasted or lost, and it has recently been reported that this food loss accounts for 8–10% of total GHG emissions, equating to ∼4–5 Gton/year of CO 2 emissions . By taking the protein-rich byproducts discussed in this paper into account, in which the average protein content is approximately 32%, we find that for each kg of protein wasted, 14.6 kg of CO 2 is emitted in the environment.…”

“…As mentioned in the introduction, approximately one-third of the food produced globally becomes wasted or lost, and it has recently been reported that this food loss accounts for 8−10% of total GHG emissions, equating to ∼4−5 Gton/year of CO 2 emissions. 3 By taking the protein-rich byproducts discussed in this paper into account, in which the average protein content is approximately 32%, we find that for each kg of protein wasted, 14.6 kg of CO 2 is emitted in the environment. This review, however, focuses on protein-rich byproducts; we expect the average protein content in food waste to be lower than 32%, further increasing the predicted emissions of CO 2 for each kg of wasted protein to be well beyond 15 kg.…”

“…Food waste is a primary contributor to climate change, with approximately 1.3 billion tons of food wasted annually. This amount corresponds to 30% of the total food produced for human consumption, and to 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated with food waste. , Food protein waste, as its most valuable component, plays a major role in the overall situation. For example, the intensive production of animal proteins has a direct impact on climate change, as it results in 12% of total GHG emissions and 30% of all human-induced terrestrial biodiversity loss .…”

Assessment and scenario hypothesis of food waste in China based on material flow analysis

“…National Bureau of Statistics, the price index for livestock meat has been higher than the prices of other food categories from 2016-2020, limiting the number of purchases made by consumers and reducing waste by due to consumers' economic loss avoidance 23 , making the amount of waste correspondingly lower.…”

The status of the global food waste mitigation policies: experience and inspiration for China

“…Food waste mitigation is a global problem, and many countries in the world have taken certain measures for food waste in terms of laws, systems, and policies. Policies play an important role in reducing food waste (Fesenfeld et al, 2022 ). Reducing food waste would contribute to addressing interconnected sustainability challenges, such as climate change, food security, and natural resource shortages.…”