Food Waste, Attitudes and Preferences of Young Females: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia

Ghada Alsawah, Wafaa Saleh, Areej Malibari, Maha M. A. Lashin and Tasneem AlGhamdi
Additional contact information
Ghada Alsawah: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Wafaa Saleh: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Areej Malibari: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Maha M. A. Lashin: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
Tasneem AlGhamdi: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, College of Engineering, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Investigations of attitudes towards food waste and preferences of policies that affect sustainability has increased rapidly over the past few decades. Most research on food waste, however, has been undertaken mainly in the developed countries with very few in the developing countries. It is very important therefore to investigate food waste and attitudes towards sustainability in developing countries, especially since a huge amount of carbon emissions and other pollutants occur in the developing countries. Saudi Arabia is a rich developing country that sets its 2030 visions to tackle issues related to sustainability. Many strong policies and programs are set in place to fulfil these visions. Such attitudes towards food waste diverges between cultures as a result of differences in background, income, family structure, age, etc. The contribution of this study is that it intends to investigate attitudes and preferences on policies and programs that aim at achieving sustainability and reducing food waste for young university females in Saudi Arabia. The methodology that is adopted in this study is to design a questionnaire, arranged in 5 sections and 23 questions, to collect data from 199 students at Princess Norah Bint Abdulrahman University. The aim of the questionnaire was to evaluate attitudes and preferences of female students towards food waste in Saudi Arabia, and in particular in the city of Riyadh. A number of policies were selected for the investigation, including three categories of policies: hospitality policies, education and raising awareness, and legislation policies. The participants expressed their opinions towards policies and programs that aim at improving sustainability and reducing food waste. Each policy was assessed in terms of its level of importance and its effectiveness in achieving sustainability. Two indices were calculated to compare and assess the perception of the suggested policies: the Perceived Effectiveness Index (PEI) and the Endorsement Index (EI). The results show that while some policies are perceived as both effective and supported for implementation, some policies are perceived as most effective; however, participants were not very supportive of their implementation. Hospitality policies, such as encouraging food waste recycling and providing the option to take away leftover food, were ranked highest in terms of effectiveness to achieve the target. These findings seem to echo the Saudi society’s attitudes of sustainable behaviour and positive attitudes towards food waste recycling. It should also be noted here that while the Saudi society is still a growing and developing society, it does care significantly about food waste and sustainability. The results are encouraging, and further investigations are urgently needed to better understand determinants of food waste at a household level in developing countries.

Keywords: food waste; student behaviour; effectiveness of policies; attitudes to policies on food waste; food waste in developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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