Exploring South Australian households' perceptions towards various food waste policies

By Sarah Ann Wheeler, Ying Xu and Daniel Gregg

Ecological Economics, 2025, vol. 227, issue C

Abstract: Increasing landfill and environmental costs are driving municipalities to search for effective policies to change household food waste disposal, balancing competing attributes such as effectiveness, fairness and feasibility. In order to better understand households' policy perspectives, we conducted an online survey with 1520 South Australians regarding four different food waste policies, namely: 1) frequency-based pricing for bin collection; 2) penalties for bin misuse; 3) changing bin collection timing; and 4) extension and education. A structural equation modelling approach was used to model overall policy preference, based on perceived policy attributes and household socio-demographics. Results highlighted that respondents' rated economic incentives (pricing and penalties) as the most effective in changing food waste behaviour, but rank these policies low in feasibility or acceptability. Conversely, education and information campaigns were rated as the lowest in effectively changing behaviour, but the most acceptable and fairest policy overall. Overall, respondents from households producing less food waste were more favourable towards introducing economic incentive food waste policies.

Keywords: Overall policy views; Food waste policies; Perceived consequences; Mediation analysis; Structural equation modelling. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:227:y:2025:i:c:s0921800924003288

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108431

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