Attitudes and Behaviours of Young Consumers towards Wasting Food: Case Study Based on Polish Students

Abstract

Civilisation changes affect the attitudes and behaviour of consumers related to food waste. Most food is wasted by households. The purpose of this study was to assess the behaviour and attitudes of Polish students related to food waste and to determine the amount and type of food waste, as well as to indicate the causes of this problem. The analysis of attitudes and behaviours of individual groups of society directs actions to be taken in order to reduce food waste. For 14 days, a questionnaire was completed by Polish students from two universities. It concerned the frequency of throwing away food products and the type and amount of wasted products, as well as the reasons for throwing food away and the ways of counteracting this situation. Descriptive statistics, a Pareto–Lorenz analysis and a cluster analysis were used to analyse the obtained data. In this study, the level of food waste by Polish students was determined, and the study group was segmented into three clusters. The three clusters defining the attitudes of Polish students were (1) “aware students”, (2) “disengaged students” and (3) “aware but disengaged”. The largest number of respondents were classified into cluster 2. Polish students are aware of the problems of food waste, but do not contribute to reducing it. In most cases, students’ behaviour was not differentiated by socio-demographic characteristics.