Household Food Waste Awareness in Relation to Motivations

Claudia Giordano, Gianluca Di Fiore, Fabrizio Alboni, Elisa Carloni, Sergio Rivaroli and Luca Falasconi ()
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Claudia Giordano: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Gianluca Di Fiore: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Fabrizio Alboni: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Elisa Carloni: Dipartimento di Economia, Società e Politica, Università degli Studi di Urbino, 61029 Urbino, Italy
Sergio Rivaroli: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Luca Falasconi: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: The current study investigates which motivations to reduce food waste influence respondents’ likelihood to accurately self-assess food waste quantities. Some studies suggest that motivations to prevent household food waste influence respondents’ behaviors, but others highlight that routine and daily life often represent an obstacle to acting consistently. To this end, this study observed if a certain set of motivations actually influences the perceived quantity of food waste produced; in other words, if the motivation to reduce food waste is a driver of coherent behavior and awareness. The results were drawn from weekly food diaries and then compared with online questionnaires run on a sample of 388 households. A random forest has been performed to identify the relevant variables, able to predict the food waste self-assessment. The results show that no specific motivation is related to a better awareness of food waste quantities, nor to the actual waste average.

Keywords: household food waste; awareness; quantities; attitude; motivation; diary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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