Increases in Household Food Waste in Canada as a Result of COVID-19: An Exploratory Study

Janet Music, Sylvain Charlebois, Louise Spiteri, Shannon Farrell and Alysha Griffin
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Janet Music: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Sylvain Charlebois: Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Louise Spiteri: Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Shannon Farrell: Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Alysha Griffin: Faculty of Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-11

Abstract: The era of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a variety of individual lifestyle and behavioural changes, and could, therefore, potentially involve a shift towards more sustainable food systems. This research was conducted through an online survey of cross-sectional design. We surveyed 8272 Canadians in August of 2020. Participants answered questions about socio-demographic food waste amounts in kilograms, and food-waste-management behaviours. In this exploratory study, we assessed the relationships between socio-demographic variables, and self-reported food-waste behaviours through two-tailed significance testing. Results indicated that Canadian households self-reported an insignificant decrease in food waste during the pandemic. Respondents reported allowing food to expire, not utilizing leftovers, and not finishing meals. Understanding food-waste behaviour changes is key to designing effective mitigation strategies to reduce household food waste and to minimize the environmental consequences with which food waste is associated.

Keywords: household food waste; COVID-19 pandemic; environmental impacts; Canadian households; sustainable food systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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