Abstract
Understanding consumer knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards food waste is critical for informing evidence-based programs to advance sustainable food systems. A lack of knowledge regarding consumer food waste at the local level limits the ability to inform place-based solutions that are locally relevant. We administered an online survey to examine consumer perceptions, behaviors, and knowledge of food waste at the household level in Montana, a rural state in the United States. The majority of surveyed participants (58%) reported that they waste 10% or less of procured food. Almost half the participants (48%) are willing to take additional action to reduce food waste. Social factors including guilt and setting a good example were found to be greater motivators for reducing food waste compared to economic and environmental factors. Most survey participants (80%) perceive it would not be difficult to notably reduce their household's food waste. Overall, participants' reporting of their household's food waste quantity is lower than national quantities while their willingness to reduce food waste was higher than findings from a national survey. This study highlights the need for place-based solutions that are locally relevant to reduce household food waste towards enhancing the sustainability of food systems for supporting planetary health.
Highlights
Food waste is a major challenge for advancing sustainable food systems with environmental, economic, social, and health implications
The majority of participants (61%) reported that they did not seek out information about strategies to reduce household food waste while the remaining participants (39%) did
This study highlights that food waste is a concern among consumers in the rural American state of Montana and that place-based solutions are needed to further reduce food waste
Summary
Food waste is a major challenge for advancing sustainable food systems with environmental, economic, social, and health implications. This study examines consumer perceptions, behaviors, and knowledge of food waste at the household level in Montana, a rural agricultural state in the United States, through an online survey that was distributed through community groups. Our study team developed a survey based on previous consumer surveys on food waste including national studies in the United States (Parry et al, 2014; Neff et al, 2015; Qi and Roe, 2016) coupled with additional questions in order to address the overall research question: What are consumer attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, and perceptions about food waste and what factors contribute to household food waste and food waste reduction in Montana? The response options that included a 6point Likert scale were re-grouped for the statistical analysis and included the following groupings: “Often/Always,” “Sometimes,” and “Rarely/Never.” The response option “Not applicable” was not included in the statistical analysis
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