Food wastage in Turkey: an exploratory survey on household food waste

Abstract

Increase in food demand, mainly due to population growth and diet changes, is putting an increasing pressure on food system and food security. In this framework, food losses and wastes (FLW) together create one of the main causes of food systems unsustainability. The two differ on the fact that food losses refer to the part of food that is lost along the supply chain before reaching final consumer while food waste represents the waste of food by final consumer. This paper focuses on the role of demographic, social and economic factors affecting household behavior related to food waste (FW) and explores some factors which can play an important role in tackling food waste issue in the case of Turkey. The paper is based on an online survey with150 Turkish respondents in January-March 2015. The sample was not gender balanced since71% of them were females. About two fifths of the respondents (38%) belong to the age group 35-44 years and 62% of the sample has a high level of education (master and PhD).The fact that the majority of the respondents are employees (70% of the sample) in the big cities of Turkey shows how the pace of the metropolitan life structure affects consumer food consumption habits and orient purchases towards supermarkets. The results of the survey show that still 95% of the respondents are responsible of FW and 90% think that food waste increases during the month of Ramadan. Nevertheless, about 50% of respondents declared the willingness to throw less away and ask for better information about the negative impacts of food waste on the environment and on the economy. Preventing bread waste campaign of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock was launched in 2013 in order to increase consciousness of the society towards bread waste which is quite important in Turkey. Similarly, there are some other initiatives on both national and local level with the objective of informing people about the food waste, sustainable food consumption and reuse of the food through food recipes.