Better social infrastructure matters: Impacts of perceptional and behavioral smartization on food-related household emissions and wastes

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Japan has been implementing policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (NDC goal) and food-related wastes (Food Recycling Act). However, these policies were mainly targeting commercial stakeholders instead of households. In this paper, we proposed a smart food transition framework with multiple dimensions, conducted a large sample size survey (5500 households in Japan) with consumer attitudes towards smart food services and smart eating habits, and investigated what may affect food-related household greenhouse gas emissions and food waste through a detailed assessment of both direct and indirect emissions. We found that, in the context of a better social infrastructure (e.g., better telecommunications infrastructure or higher penetration of SNS) where households can have a higher level of welfare and better access to smart food services, additional food waste would be generated, but not necessarily food-related greenhouse gas emissions. This is possible to be improved by perceptional changes and behavioral changes (e.g., more tolerance of using commercially prepared dishes, more willingness to use inventory management APPs). Our paper emphasized the importance of appropriate guidance in such perceptional changes and behavioral changes, together with detailed directions, for more decent household lives in the future of Japan.