Food-waste reduction: Examining the effectiveness of a monetary appeal in a behavioural intervention to reduce consumer food-waste

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2018-06-27
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en
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The United Nations want to reduce food waste by 50% in 2030. Although a lot of research suggests possibilities to reduce food waste, little research has examined their effectiveness on the actual amount of food waste. The aim of current study was to examine the effectiveness of a monetary appeal in a behavioural intervention to stimulate reusing leftovers and reducing food waste. The behavioural intervention consisted of information about food waste, reusing leftovers, and monetary savings, self-persuasion, and commitment. After a one-week pre-measure, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (control, neutral intervention, economic intervention). Results showed that a monetary appeal might be effective to stimulate reusing leftovers among students, although it did not reach significance. Results also showed that attitudes towards food waste seemed to be less negative after one week. There were no differences in intention not to waste food between the three conditions. The amount of self-reported food waste did also not change over time between the three conditions. One explanation for not finding any significant results is the weak power in current study. More research is needed to examine the effectiveness of a monetary appeal in reducing food waste.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen