Household food waste in five territories in Europe and Northern Africa: Evaluation of differences and similarities as implication for actions.
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Reduction of food waste is an important element of the sustainable transformation of food systems. This study focused on food waste quantification, its causes, and perception in 5 territories: North Hessia (Germany), Cilento Bio-District (Italy), Kenitra (Morocco), Warsaw (Poland), Copenhagen (Denmark) with the main objective of assessing whether different cultures affected the levels and the profiles of household food waste. A validated questionnaire was used to assess the quantities and typologies of food waste (completely unused, partially used, meal leftovers, leftovers after storing). In addition, the reasons for food waste and how food waste was perceived were investigated. In a sample of 2154 respondents, the level of still edible food that was wasted amounted to 399 g per family per week, equivalent to 153 g per capita. Kenitra showed the highest amount of FW per household (539 g), but the lowest amount of food waste per capita (125 g). Citizens of rural communities, e.g., Cilento Bio-District (136 g), North Hessia Federal State (132 g), and Kenitra (125 g), had more effective food waste prevention practices than citizens of urban areas, e.g., Copenhagen (201 g) and Warsaw (179 g). Family size was identified as a significant factor in FW generation, with households having 5 or more members showing lower FW per capita (85 g) than single-member families (309 g). The study underscores the need for tailored strategies to reduce FW considering the above-reported territorial differences.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Artikelnummer | 142086 |
| Tidsskrift | Journal of Cleaner Production |
| Vol/bind | 452 |
| Antal sider | 12 |
| ISSN | 0959-6526 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 2024 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:
As reported in Fig. 2, fresh products (bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, and nonalcoholic beverages, that include milk) were the most wasted food categories both in frequencies and quantities. These findings are in line with the consideration that the perishability of the products is an important determinant of waste (Grant et al., 2023; Herzberg et al., 2020; Ilakovac et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2020).These results have been achieved within the SysOrg project \u201COrganic agro-food systems as models for sustainable food systems in Europe and Northern Africa\u201D. The authors acknowledge the financial support for this project provided by transnational funding bodies, partners of the H2020 ERA-NETs SUSFOOD2 and CORE Organic Cofunds, under the Joint SUSFOOD2/CORE Organic Call 2019, with national funding from Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Federal Organic Farming Program [funding reference No. 2819OE153] - Germany, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests [grant number n. 9386854 dated December 17, 2020], the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation \u2013 Morocco [grant convention number n. 4 dated November 03, 2020], Warsaw Municipality - Poland: the National Center for Research and Development \u2013 NCBR, Poland [grant number SF-CO/SysOrg/6/2021], the Green Development and Demonstration Programme (GUDP) under the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food [grant number 34009-20-1694]. The funding bodies had no role in the design of this study, its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, or decision to submit results.
Funding Information:
These results have been achieved within the SysOrg project \u201COrganic agro-food systems as models for sustainable food systems in Europe and Northern Africa\u201D. The authors acknowledge the financial support for this project provided by transnational funding bodies, partners of the H2020 ERA-NETs SUSFOOD2 and CORE Organic Cofunds, under the Joint SUSFOOD2/ CORE Organic Call 2019, with national funding from Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture , Federal Organic Farming Program [funding reference No. 2819OE153 ] - Germany, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture , Food Sovereignty and Forests [grant number n. 9386854 dated December 17, 2020], the Ministry of Higher Education , Scientific Research and Innovation \u2013 Morocco [grant convention number n. 4 dated November 03, 2020], Warsaw Municipality - Poland: the National Center for Research and Development \u2013 NCBR , Poland [grant number SF-CO/SysOrg/6/2021], the Green Development and Demonstration Programme (GUDP) under the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food [grant number 34009-20-1694 ]. The funding bodies had no role in the design of this study, its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, or decision to submit results.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd
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