What is it about?
Young consumers accept the issue of food waste and have several experiences in their own lives. Even though they see themselves as responsible for the environment and for climate change, they also acknowledge that there is a challenge with food waste in their own household. Interventions based on packaging are seen in different forms, going from studies with the packaging being able to preserve food better to studies where information about food waste prevention is given on the packaging.
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Why is it important?
Young consumers are often described as innovative and concerned about the environment. However, their practices sometimes are not strong enough, which are described as the attitude–behavior gap and are seen in significant amounts of food waste. The objective of this study is to focus on food waste among young consumers in high-income countries and to outline the main determinants of food waste generation.
Perspectives
Many interventions take a top–down approach in order to control, nudge, or increase the awareness of food waste practices through laws and regulations. An important approach to the phenomenon of food waste requires an explorative methodology. The bottom–up approach, in which the target group puts their own words on the phenomenon and even gives their view on one or several solutions, was taken in this study and could be mentioned as a way to change behavior. Just taking part in the debate might cause small changes in people’s mindsets, and behaviors might change as a consequence of challenging one’s own words. This type of intervention take time but can easily be tested.
Mr Jesper Clement
Copenhagen Business School
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Exploring Causes and Potential Solutions for Food Waste among Young Consumers, Foods, June 2023, MDPI AG,
DOI: 10.3390/foods12132570.
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