Attitudes and behaviour of Greek households regarding food waste prevention

Abstract

Food waste is a waste stream with serious economic, environmental and social implications. The emphasis of the reported research is on the food waste generated by households in Greece. A structured questionnaire was utilised in order to identify the attitudes of the respondents and investigate the prevalence of certain behavioural good practices that can prevent the generation of food waste. The research, to our knowledge the first of its kind in Greece, took place in February and March 2012. Face-to-face interviews were employed, resulting to a total of 231 consumers fully completing the questionnaire. Results indicate that, based on self-reported behaviour, people in Greece have positive attitudes towards food waste prevention and that their habits are close to the good practices suggested in the literature for reducing food waste. For instance, most respondents do plan their food shopping in a multitude of ways and are very careful in their purchases of fresh food supplies. However, about 40% misunderstand the meaning of food date labels. The positive findings are strongly influenced by the severe recession experienced in the country, which makes consumers more conscious of their spending. Results may serve as a yardstick to further promote and establish food waste prevention behaviour at the household level on an environmental and social awareness basis that may outlast the economic crisis.