Normative prompts reduce consumer food waste in restaurants

What shapes food waste behaviors? New insights from a comprehensive action determination model

The sharp increase in food waste poses a serious threat to food security and environmental sustainability. However, most existing studies have investigated the determinants of food waste behaviors in a separate behavioral process without considering the potential impacts of different factors in an integrated process. To narrow this gap, a comprehensive action determination model (CADM), which integrates network embeddedness and incentive measures, was constructed to explore the impact of various determinants in different processes on food waste behaviors, using data collected from 913 residents in eastern China via an online survey. The empirical results showed that environmental concern was the largest positive factor in predicting personal norms (β = 0.80, p < 0.001), followed by network embeddedness. With the habitual process considered, residents with ingrained waste habits were more likely to waste food (β = 0.38, p < 0.001). Moreover, the normative process alleviates behavioral decisions via intentions to reduce food waste. This study confirmed the differences in the situational process and suggested that menu tips increase food waste behaviors, while incentive measures reinforce the influence of intentions on behavior. We therefore address the insufficient ingredients on the effects of different processes on behavior and provide a new perspective for formulating behavioral intervention policies.

Cultural influences on the effects of social norm appeals

This study reports on an experimental test of the effects of descriptive and injunctive norm appeals on intentions to prevent food waste in China and the United States (N = 1449), testing the role of cultural context and group orientation in this process. Results showed that the main effects of descriptive and injunctive norm messages on behavioural intentions were mediated by normative perceptions, and cultural context moderated both paths of this mediation. Specifically, with the same message exposure, Chinese participants perceived food waste prevention as more prevalent and socially approved compared to US participants. Normative perceptions interacted with cultural context to influence behavioural intentions, such that both descriptive and injunctive norm perceptions predicted stronger intentions to prevent food waste among Chinese participants compared to Americans. Group orientation yielded a main effect on behavioural intentions, instead of the moderation effects as expected. Findings suggest the need for culturally grounded and contextualized approaches to communication of social norms, as well as building cultural concepts into theories of social norms. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.

Hotels re-explored: Experience and influence of reciprocity and social normative appeals

In this paper we report two high-powered and pre-registered experiments, testing the robustness and conceptual development of reciprocity and social norm appeals. Both experiments assessed both psychological processes for complying with these appeals and pro-environmental behavioral intention in tourism settings. In Experiment 1 (N = 2004), participants reported lower psychological reactance levels after learning that the hotel engaged in resource conservation (i.e., indirect homeomorphic reciprocity). No statistically significant effect was obtained for either obligatory motivation, prosocial motivation, skepticism, or behavioral intentions to reuse hotel towels. Importantly, high baseline intention of reusing hotel towels might have limited the effect of appeals. Therefore, we targeted meat consumption in Experiment 2 (n = 2540). Results first showed stronger obligatory and prosocial motivation for all three reciprocity appeals, compared to the standard appeal. No statistically significant results were found for either reactance or skepticism. Finally, after learning that the hotel had made a financial contribution to an environmental organization (i.e., indirect heteromorphic reciprocity) participants showed reduced meat consumption intentions compared to the standard appeal. Overall, the results provide initial evidence for conceptually refining the norm of reciprocity to encourage pro-environmental behaviors and for understanding the underlying psychological processes.

Religious values and social distance as activators of norms to reduce food waste when dining out

Empirical research is required to identify psychological and psychographic factors which can activate or amplify norms of foodservice customers towards food waste reduction. By surveying 446 foodservice customers in Poland, a country with a large population of religion followers, this study examines the influence of religious values on personal norms and explores the moderating effect of social distance on injunctive norms. The results indicate that religious values do not activate personal norms directly but affect them indirectly via such mediating factors as the feeling of compassion and family upbringing. Close encounters, such as family and friends, amplify the effect of injunctive norms while distant encounters, such as fellow countrymen, do not. This suggests that measures for food waste reduction should be designed to appeal to the foodservice customers' feeling of compassion. The measures should also remind foodservice customers that their (grand)parents and friends would disprove food waste.

Restaurant customers' food leftover reduction intention derived from nature connection and biospheric values: A comparison between men and women

As the COVID-19 pandemic extends over a long period of time, the World Food Programme (WFP) estimated that food insecurity would take place in the near future. Previous studies focused on various kinds of interventions for food waste prevention. Surprisingly, however, research tackling consumer attitudes and behaviors as a way to reduce food waste is still rare. To fill this gap in the literature, this study examined the antecedent roles of restaurant customers' nature connection and biospheric values in fostering their food leftover reduction intention through environmental self-identity and sense of obligation to reduce food leftover. In addition, the moderating effects of gender were tested on all the relationships in our conceptual model. A quantitative approach with an online survey for restaurant customers was adopted. Structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze the data. Through confirmatory factor analyses, the adequate reliability and validity of the measures were established. All the relationships between the constructs were found to be significant, supporting the hypotheses. In other words, the restaurant customers' nature connection and biospheric values were found to eventually induce the customers' food leftover reduction intention. In addition, in terms of the moderating effect, the male customers' nature connection more strongly increased their biospheric values than the female customers' case. The findings of this study revealed how restaurant customers' food leftover reduction intention is formed through their feeling of oneness with nature and biospheric values. Given that consumer behavior has been recognized as a major driver of restaurant food waste, the findings of this study provide useful insights to restauranteurs and policymakers for the health of society and people in it. It was especially true for men in that their feeling of oneness with nature significantly influences their biospheric values more than women's.

Why are they eco-friendly? Attributing eco-friendly descriptive norms to intrinsic motivation increases pro-environmental purchase intention

People perform pro-environmental behaviors not only out of intrinsic motivation, but also due to external factors such as expected social approval or financial gain. To the extent that people use their own motivations to infer the motivation of others, people may view descriptive norms favoring pro-environmental behavior as extrinsically motivated. This may in turn decrease the normative influence of the norm, as conformity can be negatively affected by perceptions that others are conforming mindlessly. While descriptive norms generally promote pro-environmental behavior change, the influential power of descriptive norms varies between studies. One possible explanation for these inconclusive findings is that people interpret others' behavior as either intrinsically- or extrinsically motivated. We propose that pro-environmental descriptive norms will be more influential when attributing others' pro-environmental behavior as intrinsically (e.g., pleasure of contributing to the environment) rather than extrinsically, motivated (e.g., fear of social disapproval). In two experiments (N = 1326), we compared participants' intention to purchase pro-environmental products between four conditions: control condition vs intrinsic norm vs extrinsic norm (Exp. 1) vs injunctive norm (Exp. 2). Results consistently found a significant increase in pro-environmental purchase intention in the intrinsic norm condition compared to both extrinsic norm condition (Exp. 2) and no-information control condition (Exp. 1 & 2). These studies highlight that attribution of behavior is vital for the adoption of pro-environmental norms.

How to Reduce Food Waste Caused by Normative Illusion? A Study Based on Evolutionary Game Model Analysis

Reducing food waste is a priority for all sectors of society as it threatens national food security and the sustainability of global agriculture. Many studies on food waste have focused on a single subject, and the psychological factors of consumer waste are often overlooked. Based on evolutionary game theory, this paper introduces consumers’ normative illusion, constructs an evolutionary game model in which the government, caterers and consumers collaborate to reduce food waste, and simulates and analyses the behavioural strategies of the three stakeholders. The results show that: Firstly, food waste can be reduced under certain conditions by incentive-guided and punishment-inhibited policies. Moreover, incentive-guided policies can reduce government expenditures more than punishment-inhibited ones. Secondly, implementation of prior intervention, the resultant intervention and reducing the probability of consumers’ aversion to the intervention of caterers can optimise the government’s punishment-inhibited policy. Finally, under the punishment-inhibited policy, caterers can bear 60% of the prior intervention costs for food waste management. When caterers invest 40–60% of the prior intervention costs, both caterers and consumers can achieve the ideal state of cooperation; caterers can accept 40% of the resultant intervention cost for food waste management, and when the resultant intervention cost is less than 40%, consumers choose not to waste. Both caterers and consumers are involved in reducing food waste when the probability of consumer dissatisfaction with a caterer’s intervention is reduced to less than 40%.

Strengthening Collaborative Food Waste Prevention in Peru: Towards Responsible Consumption and Production

Inefficient management and handling of organic waste generated by the food service sector is a big global challenge. In addition to the negative environmental impacts of food waste, the effect of the amount of food that is wasted when it is not handled properly is even more alarming. This is particularly when we witness the millions of people who suffer from lack of food and malnutrition. The objective of this research is to examine the situation of organic waste management in food services in the cities of Lima and Tacna in Peru. Using a quantitative methodological approach to waste management, a questionnaire was administered to a sample of 67 restaurants in both cities. The survey results suggest that the restaurants do not carry out the separation or reuse of organic waste. Furthermore, the main methods of disposal include providing surpluses to the staff and sending organic waste to the sanitary landfill and slaughterhouses. There is also a lack of awareness and training about the importance of organic waste management. From the restaurants interviewed, although around 60% claimed to segregate them, only 28% measured organic waste using a manual control and 18% indicated that they weighed the waste for management purposes. As a corrective measure for this deficiency, the production of an awareness video was created to improve decision-making and support change.

Food Waste Reduction from Customers’ Plates: Applying the Norm Activation Model in South Korean Context

Researchers have pointed out the urgent need to tackle food waste from customers’ plates, considering its environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Nonetheless, little is known about reducing food waste from customers’ plates in the restaurant context. The present research successfully addressed how customers can reduce food waste by using the Norm Activation Model (NAM). A customer survey was employed to collect quantitative data to verify the hypotheses of this study. The NAM of this study involved awareness of environmental impact (of the restaurant industry), ascribed responsibility for food waste, and moral norm for food waste reduction as predictors for food waste reduction intention. In addition, this study adopted self-efficacy to food waste reduction as a moderator on the path from the moral norm for food waste reduction to food waste reduction intention. Our empirical results supported all the hypotheses suggested in the research model. Consequently, the findings of this study adequately explained how restaurant customers form their intention to reduce food waste and thus provided important clues about how it can be encouraged. For example, based on the findings, a nudging message may be displayed on the restaurant wall to raise customers’ self-efficacy, saying, “Saving the earth is as easy as finishing your food or taking it home”.

Reducing Environmental Risk by Applying a Polyvalent Model of Waste Management in the Restaurant Industry

A series of concerns regarding the circular economy and linked to a responsible attitude toward environmental protection, have been approached in this paper. These represent essential demands in order for restaurants to be profitable and sustainable in the future. The cost of food wastes has been taken into consideration as a strategic problem in the restaurant logistic chain. A literature review shows that there is a lack of appropriate knowledge and technology in dealing with eco-waste management. The paper presents a functional polyvalent model of the logistic chain of a restaurant, represented in the form of interconnected processes covered by the flows of food goods and wastes in different stages and operations, having associated the flows of optimized costs. The application of the sustainable technology model and waste management system is illustrated by a case study from Brașov County, Romania. The research proves that applying the “polyvalent model of improvement of waste management practices” has positive effects concerning the possibilities of minimizing physical waste to reduce the volume of waste from restaurant activity, to reduce costs with waste elimination, and to create value-added, by reusing and recycling food raw materials. Results show that by applying the TEWAMA-R model to food preparation, the total amount of reused beef waste per month increased to 33.4% and the recycling of waste increased to 41.1% (given that all waste was disposed of in application of standard technology). The disposal was reduced from 100% to 25.5%. The presented model allows for environmental impact reduction in the restaurant industry by reducing/eliminating waste or by-products that are carriers of huge resources of water and energy.

HoReCa Food Waste and Sustainable Development Goals—A Systemic View

A significant share of food waste originates in the food services domain and HoReCa sector. Organizational improvements leading to the decrease of food waste and related costs in HoReCa are needed to make progress in this issue. A systems engineering approach was applied to examine the links between food waste generated in the HoReCa industry and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A literature review discovered two dimensions of actions leading to decreasing food waste in HoReCa; i.e., actions triggered by companies and by authorities (e.g., governmental policies). Additionally, customers and society were also considered. A framework is proposed to explicitly illustrate the dependencies of different micro actions devoted to food waste reduction in HoReCa in support of the SDGs. The other dimension of this framework is macro policies and their impact on SDGs. To increase food waste reduction awareness and collaboration, stakeholders on both the macro (launched by authorities for the whole sector) and micro (initiated by single organizations on their own) levels must work together. The results of this research will be useful in coordinating the efforts of all (consumers, HoReCa companies and suppliers, policymakers and administrations on different levels) involved in the supply chain of food production and consumption.

Consumer's over-ordering behavior at restaurant: Understanding the important roles of interventions from waiter and ordering habits

In China, approximately half of total food waste is generated from the foodservice sector, which largely results from irresponsible consumer behavior when ordering food. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to better understand and intervene in Chinese consumers' ordering behavior in restaurants, ultimately contributing to minimizing food waste in China. Thus, the current study proposed a comprehensive model which incorporated habitual processes (individual ordering habits) and situational constraints (interventions from waiters) into the original theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the norm-activation (NAM) theoretical framework. This comprehensive model was tested on a sample of 527 consumers from Mainland China and was compared with the more mature models: TPB, NAM, and a combined model of both. Results showed that the comprehensive model explained the highest degree of variation in over-ordering behavior. Individual ordering habits and interventions from the waiter were proven to be crucial in understanding the complicated decision-making process of ordering foods in restaurants. Based on the model, implications for research and practice are also discussed.

How to Effectively Encourage Sustainable Food Choices: A Mini-Review of Available Evidence

Food choices are difficult to change. People’s individual motivations (such as taste, cost, and food preferences) can be at odds with the negative environmental outcomes of their food choices (such as deforestation, water pollution, and climate change). How then can people be encouraged to adopt more sustainable food choices? This rapid review uses a dual-processing framework of decision-making to structure an investigation of the effectiveness of interventions to encourage sustainable food choices (e.g., local and organic food consumption, reducing meat and dairy intake, reducing food waste) via voluntary behavior change. The review includes interventions that rely on fast, automatic decision-making processes (e.g., nudging) and interventions that rely on more deliberate decision-making (e.g., information provision). These interventions have varying degrees of success in terms of encouraging sustainable food choices. This mini-review outlines some of the ways in which our understanding of sustainable food choices could be enhanced. This includes a call for the inclusion of possible moderators and mediators (past behavior, attitudes, beliefs, values) as part of effect measurements, because these elucidate the mechanisms by which behavior change occurs. In light of the climate change challenge, studies that include long-term effect measurements are essential as these can provide insight on how to foster sustained and durable changes.

Assessing the effect of non-financial information intervention on promoting group-level energy savings

Increasing attention has been paid to information intervention in stimulating household energy conservation. However, for group-level energy users who have no financial motivation to save energy, little is known about which types of non-financial information intervention (NFII) strategies can effectively motivate group-level energy conservation. A 14-week controlled field experiment was conducted to test the energy-saving effect of 4 types of NFII strategies. The results show that compared with the control group, the experimental group receiving normative information and group-contrast feedback decreased electricity consumption by 24.23%. Followed by the group receiving normative information and self-contrast feedback and the group receiving environmental education information and group-contrast feedback. The group receiving environmental education information and self-contrast feedback showed no significant energy savings. Analysis of variance further showed that normative information had a better energy-saving effect than environmental education information, and the energy-saving effects produced by group-contrast feedback were better than that of self-contrast feedback. These conclusions provide insights and recommendations on how to use NFII to motivate group-level energy conservation.

Daily cost of consumer food wasted, inedible, and consumed in the United States, 2001-2016

Background

Consumer food waste in the United States represents substantial amounts of wasted nutrients, as well as needless environmental impact from wasted agricultural inputs, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts to reduce food waste at the consumer level are urgently needed to address the most prominent nutrition and environmental sustainability issues we now face. Importantly, individuals report that saving money is a salient motivator for reducing food waste, yet contemporary evidence on the consumer cost of wasted food is lacking. The objectives of this study are to 1) estimate the daily per capita cost of food wasted, inedible, and consumed 2) at home and away from home, and 3) by food group.

Methods

This study utilizes cross-sectional, nationally-representative data on food intake from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2001–2016), linked with nationally representative data on food waste from published literature, as well as data on food prices and food price inflation from multiple publicly-available sources. Survey-weighted procedures estimated daily per capita expenditure on food waste for 39,758 adults aged ≥20 y.

Results

Total daily per capita food expenditure was $13.27, representing 27% wasted, 14% inedible, and 59% consumed. The greatest daily food waste expenditures were observed for meat and seafood purchased for consumption outside of the home ($0.94, 95% CI: $0.90–0.99), and fruits and vegetables purchased for consumption in the home ($0.68, $0.63–0.73).

Conclusions

The most cost-effective ways to reduce food waste at the consumer level are to focus waste reduction efforts on meat and seafood purchased for consumption outside of the home and fruits and vegetables purchased for consumption in the home. A number of strategies are available to help consumers reduce their food waste, which can increase their financial flexibility to purchase more healthy foods while simultaneously reducing environmental impact.

Passively concerned: Horeca managers' recognition of the importance of food waste hardly leads to the adoption of more strategies to reduce it

Recent works have found a negative correlation between the amount of food waste generated in foodservice outlets and the extent to which managers perceive it as a relevant problem. However, it is hard to believe that food flows would be impacted by wishful thinking alone. In this paper, we try to offer an explanation to these findings by testing the associations between importance recognition, food waste measurement and compliance to waste reduction strategies in three different stages (pre-kitchen, in-kitchen and post-kitchen). We do so by fitting a generalized structural equation model in the results of a survey ran in Italy with almost 500 Horeca (Hotels, restaurants and cafeterias) managers. Our findings reveal that importance perception triggers strategies' adoption in only one of the three stages (in-kitchen). Furthermore, this association is essentially dependent on the mediation performed by measurement, suggesting that importance recognition covers a complex pathway to arrive in reduced amounts of waste. Additional results indicate that larger and higher-end outlets tend to place more importance on food waste. Moreover, although 77% of the sample recognizes the relevance of food waste to their businesses, the incorporation of some of the main reduction strategies is still low, as 85% of the establishments report the adoption of no more than 3 out of the 9 strategies presented.

Understanding Global Food Surplus and Food Waste to Tackle Economic and Environmental Sustainability

Although food surplus and food waste issues are extremely important, the amount of literature published on these topics is astonishingly low by our observation. The relationships between food surplus/food waste and economic/environmental sustainability have not yet been holistically assessed and discussed. The main purpose of this study is to understand global food surplus and food waste issues in order to tackle the economic sustainability and environmental sustainability crisis. Content analysis was used to analyze 500 relevant materials and was conducted by NVivo 12 Plus software. The results contain seven countries, six organizations, and six continents, providing a framework to recognize the economic and environmental sustainability crisis. In addition, six major organizations and regions were identified and were found to be relevant to the important issues of food surplus, food waste, the sharing economy, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability. With the trend of globalization, this study highlights some preliminary evidence for reducing food waste, for conflicts of the sharing economy, and for regulated sustainability. Further research and regulations in terms of economic and environmental sustainability are strongly suggested.

Smaller servings vs. information provision: Results of two interventions to reduce plate waste in two university canteens

Two interventions were systematically evaluated in two university canteens on their effectiveness to reduce visitors' plate waste. The evaluation was theory-based and focused not only at the effects on the amount of plate waste, but also at the psychological predictors underlying plate waste behaviour. In Intervention A, visitors received information about food waste over a period of three weeks. In Intervention B, in addition to information, smaller servings were offered. The actual amount of plate waste and visitors' attitudes, personal norms, beliefs, perceived behavioural control, intentions and plate waste reduction behaviour were measured before and after the interventions. Intervention B reduced the amount of plate waste by 20%, whereas no reduction was found after Intervention A. In both interventions, the provided information resulted in more positive beliefs and stronger personal norms regarding avoiding plate waste. The information also caused attitudes to have a stronger influence on plate waste reduction behaviour, whereas intention to reduce became less important for reducing plate waste. Personal norms regarding food waste were the strongest predictor of plate waste reduction behaviour, before and after the interventions. The provided information was thus insufficient to reduce plate waste, simply offering smaller servings could achieve this. Although our intervention study only included two university canteens and was conducted for a short period, our data seem to imply that a combination of both information and smaller servings reduces plate waste in the food service industry.

Patterns and Causes of Food Waste in the Hospitality and Food Service Sector: Food Waste Prevention Insights from Malaysia

Food waste has formidable detrimental impacts on food security, the environment, and the economy, which makes it a global challenge that requires urgent attention. This study investigates the patterns and causes of food waste generation in the hospitality and food service sector, with the aim of identifying the most promising food waste prevention measures. It presents a comparative analysis of five case studies from the hospitality and food service (HaFS) sector in Malaysia and uses a mixed-methods approach. This paper provides new empirical evidence to highlight the significant opportunity and scope for food waste reduction in the HaFS sector. The findings suggest that the scale of the problem is even bigger than previously thought. Nearly a third of all food was wasted in the case studies presented, and almost half of it was avoidable. Preparation waste was the largest fraction, followed by buffet leftover and then customer plate waste. Food waste represented an economic loss equal to 23% of the value of the food purchased. Causes of food waste generation included the restaurants’ operating procedures and policies, and the social practices related to food consumption. Therefore, food waste prevention strategies should be twofold, tackling both the way the hospitality and food service sector outlets operate and organise themselves, and the customers’ social practices related to food consumption.

Social influence fosters the use of a reusable takeaway box

The severe ecological and economic consequences of disposable takeaway containers call for the implementation of effective interventions: namely, the use of reusable takeaway boxes. The present field study examined how social influence determined whether customers chose a reusable or a disposable takeaway box at a takeaway restaurant. We unobtrusively recorded the takeaway packaging choices (reusable vs. disposable) of customers over lunchtimes during a period of four weeks. We operationalized social influence in two ways. First, we manipulated social norms. For half of the field days, we added a normative message to the existing informational material on the counter of the takeaway outlet. Second, we observed social modeling by recording whether the takeaway packaging choice took place in the presence of other customers using a reusable takeaway box. The results were mixed: On one hand, we found no effect from the manipulated social norm, which we discuss in the light of past interventions using social norm messages. On the other hand, we found an effect of the observed social modeling: witnessing others using a reusable takeaway box increased the odds of choosing one oneself. This finding demonstrates the importance of getting customers to perform the desired behavior, to serve as social role models for others.