Is it food or is it waste? Determinants of decisions to throw food away

Abstract

Domestic ‘Food waste’ is influenced by a complex interplay of contextual and cultural factors and is often preventable. Despite being the largest source of food waste, it remains under-researched and food disposal decisions, even less so. The study employed a realistic scenario-based approach within a questionnaire administered to a nationally representative sample of United Kingdom consumers (n = 2046). It investigated possible influences on food disposal decisions for a variety of foods, including optimistic bias, place attachment, trust in government and food involvement. Results showed that a large proportion of food may be thrown away, including food that, in principle, would be safe to eat. The multifaceted nature of food waste decisions was unveiled, including the significant role of less-studied predictors, including optimistic bias, which 60 % of respondents exhibited. These people were significantly (up to three times) more likely to throw some foods away. Ongoing confusion over the meaning of durability indicators was also shown, suggesting that food waste might result from ill-informed food disposal decisions in the home, vindicating the removal of best-before dates. The need for behaviour-change communications to appropriately benchmark levels of personal food waste was identified, so that people recognise their role in waste production and, thus, can contribute to the United Nations Sustainability Development Goal 12.3 of Responsible Consumption and Production.