What influences consumer food waste in urban households? Guidelines for communication strategies in Portugal

Households are responsible for more than 50% of food waste in the European Union. Although attention on household food waste has been growing, progress in reducing it has been slow. It is therefore important to understand what influences household food waste to provide guidelines for communication strategies that promote food waste reductions. This study proposes a new conceptual model linking the amount of food waste with its causes, guiding effective communication strategies. To validate the conceptual model, data was collected through an online survey with 376 valid responses. The results reveal that motivations and behaviors have moderate correlations with the amount of food wasted. These two variables, along with age, gender and number of people and children in the household were used to form clusters, which represent four types of urban consumers in relation to motivations and behaviors towards food waste generation (impulsive waster (17%), planner (26%), young waster (27%) and fan of leftovers (30%)). Driven by the results, guidance for tailored communication strategies for each cluster is proposed. Those strategies foster not only promoting anti-food waste behaviors through tips related to shopping, storage, and cooking, but also emphasizing the social inequalities stemming from food insecurity and the risks associated with poverty. Policymakers, researchers, and practitioners should incentivize shopping and planning strategies that mitigate food waste, tailed to young and impulsive wasters. The conceptual model can be used in other countries after adaptations to reflect cultural differences.