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The purpose of this short communication is to shed light on the accuracy of quantification methods of household food waste (HFW).

Thirty-seven recently published studies in HFW were surveyed for this commentary. Exemplary methods and findings of these studies were compared.

It is challenging to draw conclusions on the amount of the HFW per person/town/country due to the inconsistent and heterogeneous methodologies used. We recommend using direct measurements or triangulation of methods to help ensure valid findings. Governments should incentivize consumers to deliver their food waste to designated locations where weights could accurately be assessed. Monetary or tax incentives could help stimulate an accurate accounting of waste and encourage reductions. Food waste measurements should be consistently reported as kg/person/week.

Food and water security must be provided for all. It is estimated that one-third of edible food for humans is currently lost or wasted globally. According to the World Food Program (WFP), this is about 1.3 billion tons of food per year and at the same time this wasted food could be sufficient to feed two billion people.

The aim of this paper is to fill a gap in the literature about the magnitude and significance of HFW and its impact on the environment and social welfare. Currently, there are no generally accepted uniform methods of food waste quantification at the household level. This original communication brings the importance and challenges of the quantification of HFW to light.

The present paper aims to reveal how different cultures, as reflected by cultural norms, traditions, and social expectations, influence food waste behaviour in different regions of the world.

A systematic multifaceted literature review was employed as a main research tool.

The focal role of education and awareness campaigns in reducing household food waste and promoting responsible food consumption behaviours is revealed. The importance of guilt, behavioural control, negative attitudes towards leftovers, and social norms are among the most important factors predicting intentions to reduce food waste. Cultural beliefs significantly shape food attitudes and waste. Tailoring sustainable practices to traditions helps to ensure food security. Embracing cultural diversity can lead to the development of effective and sustainable food consumption patterns across different parts of the world.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper fully devoted to revealing how different cultural backgrounds shape food consumption habits and which marketing strategies aiming to nudge positive changes in responsible food consumption are preferred in different cultural contexts.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a pivotal role in fostering economic development by cultivating skilled workforce and generating knowledge and innovation. However, HEIs may pose a potential risk to sustainable economic development due to the generation of food waste inside their campus canteens. Therefore, this study aims to examine the influence of attitude, subjective norm (SN), perceived behavior control (PBC), religiosity and pro-social behavior among State Islamic Religious College (SIRC) students on their intention to avoid food waste behavior. This study also focused on the mediating role of the three original theory of planned behavior (TPB) variables and pro-social behavior in the relationship between religiosity and the intention to reduce food waste.

Questionnaires were used to collect data from 443 students at SIRC. The collected data were processed and analyzed using structural equation modelling to test direct, indirect and mediating effects.

The empirical results indicated that the eagerness of students at SIRC to reduce their behavior of leaving food behind can be driven by their negative attitudes or views toward food waste, the practice of religious teachings in their lives, the belief that they can avoid food waste and their concern for the environment. The empirical results reveal that even though religiosity influences SN, it is unable to strengthen the relationship between religiosity and the desire to be anti-food waste.

In addition to contributing to the food waste literature in the context of eating behavior, the results of this study have theoretical and practical implications.

To assess SIRC students’ behavioral intentions to avoid food waste behavior, this study used a contemporary setting to measure attitude, SN, PBC, religiosity and pro-social behavior, so strengthening the TPB’s empirical underpinning.

This chapter examines the role of stakeholders, cocreation, and pro-environmental behaviors in Google’s efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their food waste. It describes several different strategies that the company undertook and the outcomes of those efforts. These efforts ranged from working with suppliers and employees to use food that was normally wasted to implementing a waste measuring and feedback system. The case highlights the challenges, current impact, and risks of the different strategies.

The chapter covers the theories and models of stakeholder influence on sustainability, new product development through cocreation, and pro-environmental behaviors; it applies these concepts to Google’s food waste program.

The results of the study contribute to the frameworks on cocreation and stakeholder management to include ideas for encouraging pro-environmental behavior through various social practices (measuring and monitoring waste, building supply chain partnerships, and cocreating new products with stakeholders).

The findings of this chapter will help other companies with ideas for successfully reducing food waste and its environmental impact by illustrating new ideas for engaging stakeholders in the supply chain.

This chapter analyzes consumers’ social representations associated with food waste and their influence on their behavior. A series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews was conducted with 22 individuals, who were heterogeneous in terms of age (21–64, mean age 42), gender, SPC, geographical location, and family situation. The second set of data collection involved administering a questionnaire to 76 consumers aged between 19 and 37 in France. They were asked to give four synonyms on the basis of key words (waste and food waste) and to classify 20 terms presented to them from the most to the least significant as regards the theme of food waste. The results show that food waste depends on the individual’s emotional and gustatory, health-related, economic and/or symbolic, and moral representations. The central core of social representations is around the nature/culture of food. Managerial action should focus on the revalorization of foods and to restoring meaning to the eating/food relationship, orienting consumers toward the hedonic, ethical and symbolic values of food products, and experiences.

This study aims to explore the use of a double diamond design method to engage the industry in a sector-wide response to the issues of food waste as constructed by consumers. This particular design method is achieved by an exploration of a collective intelligence-participatory design (CIPD) project to engage industry participants in understanding and responding to consumers’ perceptions of the role of packaging in reducing food waste.

Using the UK Design Council’s double diamond design method as a guiding conceptual principle, the project recruited industry participants from medium to large food businesses across various food categories. Two scoping workshops with industry were held prior to the initiation of a 12-stage project (n = 57), and then two industry workshops were held (n = 4 and 14). Eighty participants completed an online qualitative survey, and 23 industry participants took part in a Think Tank Sprint Series. The Think Tanks used participatory design approaches to understand barriers and opportunities for change within food industry sub-sectors and test the feasibility and acceptability of package designs to reduce consumer waste.

For CIPD to work for complex problems involving industry, it is vital that stakeholders across macro- and micro-subsystems are involved and that adequate time is allowed to address that complexity. Using both the right tools for engagement and the involvement of the right mix of representatives across various sectors of industry is critical to reducing blame shift. The process of divergence and convergence allowed clear insight into the long-term multi-pronged approach needed for the complex problem.

Participatory design has been useful within various behaviour change settings. This paper has demonstrated the application of the double diamond model in a social marketing setting, adding value to an industry-wide project that included government, peak bodies, manufacturing and production and retailers.

The present study aims to examine the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMAs) on the adoption of food waste reduction behavior among Generation Z consumers within the restaurant service industry in Pakistan. The study focuses on the impact of social media advertisements and investigates the mediating influence of waste reduction intentions on actual behavior. This underscores the significance of contextual and emotional variables in comprehending consumer behaviors.

The study used a cross-sectional research methodology to examine the impact of SMMAs on the behavior of Generation Z consumers in Pakistan’s food service industry with regard to reducing food waste. A study was conducted to investigate the restaurant purchasing behaviors of a sample consisting of 449 individuals belonging to the millennial generation, often known as Generation Z.

The majority of variables related to SMMA, except for interactivity and personalization, were shown to have a positive impact on individuals’ intents to reduce food waste. The study observed a significant relationship between consumers’ intentions to decrease waste and their actual behavior in waste reduction. Furthermore, this relationship was shown to be influenced by the mediating role of waste reduction intention.

Examining how social media affects Pakistani Generation Z’s efforts to reduce food waste is what makes this study distinctive. According to the research, the majority of social media factors positively influence intentions to reduce waste. The relationship between intentions and actual behavior, which highlights the impact of social media campaigns and emotional aspects in promoting waste reduction, is one of the important conclusions.

The phenomenal growth of the hospitality sector has exponentially increased the quantities of food waste being added into the system. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that around one-third of the edible parts of the food produced for human consumption gets lost or wasted globally. Along these lines, hospitality food waste represents a significant societal challenge. A review of literature suggests that majority of existing hospitality studies have primarily focused on management's role in reducing food waste and only a few studies have looked into consumer food waste behavior. This chapter also identifies key behavioral tools that support reduction in individual food waste behavior and provides a basis for future empirical investigations.

Creating systems designs by considering a balance between economic, environmental, and social effects is significant in today's sustainability concern. Sustainability has become an emerging topic, growing concerns and attention for companies. Especially companies operating on a global scale aim to develop strategies for sustainable supply chain management. When the supply chain is a food chain, that concern increases exponentially and sustainable management of the chain becomes a critical challenge requiring the development and implementation of innovative practices by all stages within value chains. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a significant amount of food is wasted or lost in the journey from farm to fork. This waste affects the global economy, food availability, as well as the environment negatively. In this work, we, therefore, focus on addressing these aspects by searching how food waste or food loss could be reduced throughout a supply chain network. We provide solution ways for the food waste/loss reduction obtained from current works in literature.

With the launch of mobile applications to reduce food waste, this study reviews scholarly articles to answer the questions: (1) What research topics are extensively discussed in relation to food waste mobile applications (FWMA)? (2) How do these applications impact food waste and food poverty? (3) At which stage of the supply chain are digital applications employed?

This paper conducts a systematic literature review of scholarly articles on the topic of mobile applications and food waste to answer three research questions.

The article provides a definition of mobile applications to reduce food waste. Most published studies on mobile applications are from developed countries. Over half of the applications address procurement and consumption along the supply chain. The applications are categorized by food saving method and used in studies on innovation management, platform relations and performance, the supply chain activities impacted and platform acceptance.

The articles and applications analyzed suggest more quantitative studies. A wider range of cases in diverse cultural settings is needed, as well as analyses of the factors influencing the development, performance and market acceptance of platforms.

This study is the first study to systematically review the relevant scholarly contributions related to mobile applications, an innovative practice that helps reduce food waste. It allows making an initial progress report on the research carried out.