Analysis of Attitudes towards Food Waste in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Using Fuzzy Logic

Abstract

Attitudes and feelings towards food waste and positions on management policies have been vastly increased over the past few decades. Most of the available research on the analysis of attitudes towards food waste have been carried out using conventional statistical methods. This paper aims to assess and analyse attitudes and preferences of young Saudi females towards a number of policies and plans that are designed to meeting sustainable targets, using fuzzy logic analysis. This is a very important aim, especially since Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia puts a major emphasis on sustainability, setting many resources to tackle environmental problems and achieving better social standards. The Methodology includes designing and collecting data from 199 participants using a questionnaire that includes 23 questions. Data were obtained from students at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (PNU). The analysis includes utilising artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. Fuzzy logic analysis has been widely used in many fields, but has not seen many applications on food waste analysis and attitudes. Fuzzy logic analysis has the advantage of producing efficient results from smaller sample sizes and, in particular, with qualitative characteristics of the used indicators. The participants expressed positive preferences and attitudes towards the programs and policies that are designed to achieve sustainability and manage food waste. The results show that over 25% of them prefer the option of “storage for reuse” of food waste, over 35% prefer the option of distribute it to needed families and over 30% opted to the option of recycling to fertilisers. The study also reveals a very good level of awareness and appreciation of food waste and plans associated with it. The implications from this study suggest that despite the positive attitudes, there still is more research needed to obtain full understanding of attitudes towards food waste from the whole range of the population in order to gain knowledge and build specific programs to reduce food waste and achieve sustainability in the country.