Household Food Waste: A Case Study in Southern Italy

Abstract

To achieve the goal of reducing consumer-related food waste in developed countries, it is necessary to have an in-depth understanding of the factors shaping food waste, both in the household as well as at the point of purchase. Despite a growing number of studies on the subject, especially in recent years, the evidence on drivers of food waste and barriers to its reduction is somewhat conflicting. The current paper contributes to existing knowledge on food waste behaviour at the consumer level, providing original results from a direct survey conducted with a sample randomly selected in southern Italy to reveal consumer awareness, concerns and intentions towards food waste and to ascertain the existence of different consumer profiles with similar food waste behaviour. Since southern Italian regions have been shown to produce lower levels of food waste than regions in northern Italy, an in-depth analysis of the drivers behind food waste in this area could be considered an interesting case study. Our findings showed the existence of several consumer behaviour profiles that influenced household food waste generation. Strategies to reduce waste should take such differences into account in order to promote changes in food waste behaviour.