Household Food Waste Generation Research Articles

Preliminary drivers associated with household food waste generation in South Africa

ABSTRACTThis study assessed the potential drivers of household food wastage in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. A total of 210 participants were interviewed face-to-face using structured questionnaire. The acquired data were captured in Microsoft Excel, and analyzed using the chi-square statistical test and SAS statistical software. The main reasons for household food wastage were identified as buying in excess, preparation of more food than would be consumed, poor storage, poor purchase planning and falling for special offers. The study found that there is a need for household awareness or education on food waste and better food management.

Moving ahead from food-related behaviours: an alternative approach to understand household food waste generation

Food waste prevention is a hot topic on the policy agenda. According to available data, urgent measures need to be undertaken to significantly reduce the current generation of food waste. However, it is important to thoroughly understand consumers' behaviour to define measures that will lead to a long-lasting change in the situation. The aim of the present work is to analyse consumer food waste behaviour by means of a model that brings together food-related and waste management variables. To do so, a survey was given to 418 consumers of the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Results show that food waste is directly influenced by purchasing discipline, waste prevention habits and materialism values and indirectly influenced by environmental values. This highlights the importance of addressing the problem from different perspectives and emphasizes the importance of considering this problem as a transversal element for policy makers. We suggest that household food waste prevention and reduction needs to be included as a key element in different policy areas.

The global economic and regulatory determinants of household food waste generation: A cross-country analysis

Food is generally wasted all along the supply chain, with an estimated loss of 35percent generated at the consumer level. Consequently, household food waste constitutes a sizable proportion of the total waste generated throughout the food supply chain. Yet such wastes vary drastically between developed and developing countries. Using data collected from 44 countries with various income levels, this paper investigates the impact of legislation and economic incentives on household food waste generation. The obtained results indicate that well-defined regulations, policies and strategies are more effective than fiscal measures in mitigating household food waste generation.

Potentials for food waste minimization and effects on potential biogas production through anaerobic digestion

Several treatment alternatives for food waste can result in both energy and nutrient recovery, and thereby potential environmental benefits. However, according to the European Union waste management hierarchy, waste prevention should be the prioritized strategy to decrease the environmental burdens from all solid waste management. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the potential for food waste minimization among Swedish households through an investigation of the amount of avoidable food waste currently disposed of. A further aim was to investigate the effect on the national biogas production potential through anaerobic digestion of food waste, considering minimization potentials. A method for waste composition analyses of household food waste, where a differentiation between avoidable and unavoidable food waste is made, was used in a total of 24 waste composition analyses of household waste from Swedish residential areas. The total household food waste generation reached 3.4 kg (household and week)(-1), on average, of which 34% is avoidable. The theoretical methane (CH4) potential in unavoidable food waste reached 442 Ndm(3) (kg VS)(-1) or 128 Nm(3) tonne(-1) wet waste, while the measured (mesophilic CH4 batch tests) CH4 production reached 399 Ndm(3) (kg VS)(-1), which is lower than several previous assessments of CH4 production from household food waste. According to this study the combination of a decrease in food waste generation-in case of successful minimization-and decreased CH4 production from unavoidable food waste will thus result in lower total potential energy recovery from household food waste through anaerobic digestion CH4 potential than previously stated.