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Food is generally wasted all along the supply chain, with an estimated loss of 35 percent generated at the consumer level. Consequently, household food waste constitutes a sizable proportion of the total waste generated throughout the food supply chain. Yet such wastes vary drastically between developed and developing countries. Using data collected from 44 countries with various income levels, this paper investigates the impact of legislation and economic incentives on household food waste generation. The obtained results indicate that well-defined regulations, policies and strategies are more effective than fiscal measures in mitigating household food waste generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to identify antecedents of food waste among lower-middle class families - a paradox, given the financial constraints this population faces. The importance of this research is evident in escalating environmental pressures for better use of our planet's scarce resources. Given that most of the world is low-income, any behavioral change in this population is likely to have a considerable impact. Empirical data were collected from 14 lower-middle income Brazilian households, based on observations, in-depth interviews, photographs and a focus group ( n = 6). Five major categories of food waste antecedents were identified: (1) excessive purchasing, (2) over-preparation, (3) caring for a pet, (4) avoidance of leftovers and (5) inappropriate food conservation. Several subcategories were also found, including impulse buying, lack of planning and preference for large packages. Surprisingly, findings show that strategies used to save money - such as buying groceries in bulk, monthly shopping trips, preference for supermarkets and cooking from scratch - actually end up generating more food waste. This mitigates the savings made during the purchasing phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household food waste (HFW) a complex biomass containing soluble sugars, lipids, proteins, cellulose, was used for bioethanol production at high substrate concentration and low enzyme loadings. HFW was subjected to microwave digestion (121 °C, 15 min) at 20 % (w/v) substrate concentration in the presence or absence of dilute sulfuric acid. The whole slurry was hydrolyzed and simultaneously saccharified and fermented using 5 and 10 FPU/g dry HFW. Enzymatic hydrolysis resulted in glucose yields in the range of 44-47 % of the theoretical (based on potential glucose content in the HFW) for both enzyme loadings tested, indicating that enzyme loadings lower than 10 FPU/g HFW could be used. During SSF tests the highest ethanol production (23.12 g/L) was obtained from the pretreated in the presence of dilute sulfuric acid HFW at 10 FPU/g HFW. In an attempt to protect the soluble fraction from possible decomposition and increase ethanol concentration, hot water treatment and higher substrate concentrations were examined. At optimal pretreatment conditions (100 °C, 60 min), glucose yields of 54.69 and 58.39 % (of the theoretical based on potential glucose content in the HFW) were achieved at 30 and 50 % w/v substrate concentration, respectively, which corresponds to an ethanol production of 17.44 and 31.03 g/L, respectively. In order to overcome the technical difficulties due to high initial viscosity of the material, when operating hydrolysis and fermentation at high initial substrate concentrations, a non-isothermal simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process operating in fed-batch mode was applied at 40 % (w/v) final substrate concentration, resulting in 42.66 g/L (or 107 g/kg HFW) ethanol production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Household food waste was exploited for biohydrogen generation. • EDTA complex impregnation method generated small Ni (9 nm) particles. • Adding dopants (Co or Cu) to Ni/SBA-15 favors the formation of solid solutions. • Cu-Ni/SBA-15-EMC catalyst showed the maximum H 2 selectivity (62.0 vol%). • Cu-Ni solid solution reduced coke (0.08 wt%) over the Ni-Cu/SBA-15-EMC catalyst. Household food waste (FW) was converted into biohydrogen-rich gas via steam gasification over Ni and bimetallic Ni (Cu-Ni and Co-Ni) catalysts supported on mesoporous SBA-15. The effect of catalyst method on steam gasification efficiency of each catalyst was investigated using incipient wetness impregnation, deposition precipitation, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid metal complex impregnation methods. H 2 -TPR confirmed the synergistic interaction of the dopants (Co and Cu) and Ni. Furthermore, XRD and HR-TEM revealed that the size of the Ni particle varied depending on the method of catalyst synthesis, confirming the formation of solid solutions in Co– or Cu-doped Ni/SBA-15 catalysts due to dopant insertion into the Ni. Notably, the exceptional activity of the Cu-Ni/SBA-15-EMC catalyst in FW steam gasification was attributed to the fine distribution of the concise Ni nanoparticles (9 nm), which resulted in the highest hydrogen selectivity (62 vol%), gas yield (73.6 wt%). Likewise, Cu-Ni solid solution decreased coke to 0.08 wt%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest is increasing among researchers and industry regarding packaging's potential to reduce household food waste (HFW). Researchers have recommended packaging solutions and the food/beverage–packaging industry have developed packaging solutions; are the recommendations and developments related? This review paper connects academic recommendations to industry practice by identifying and comparing packaging solutions from industry press-release articles to the HFW drivers and packaging solutions identified in primary consumer empirical studies. The review covers a 16-year timespan from 2006–2021, globally, to collect data on packaging functions/formats, materials, and food groups. The analysis shows that industry developments differ from research recommendations. While most of the packaging functions/formats suggested in the empirical literature have precedence for commercial availability, many packaging solutions developed by industry are not acknowledged in the empirical literature. Combining the unique contributions of research within and external to industry creates a fuller picture of HFW, supporting more effective implementation of packaging solutions to help reduce it. There is an opportunity for industry to implement a greater number of packaging formats aligned to the most frequently reported HFW drivers. Enabling greater collaboration between the research community and industry by bringing together this literature in a critical review is a major contribution of this paper. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how Western consumers ideologically and culturally construct edibility, and discusses how this affects household food waste. Consumers' enactments of food waste range from hedonist to altruist ideologies, anchored in a continuum ranging from "disgust" to "duty" and "respect." Furthermore, consumers' categorizations of food as edible or not depend on their self-enactment of competency, leading to internalization or objectification of such assessments. Finally, across altruistic and hedonistic ideologies, interviewees use procrastination in order to reduce feelings of guilt when throwing away food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental crisis and the need to find renewable fuel alternatives have made production of biofuels an important priority. At the same time, the increasing production of food waste is an important environmental issue. For this reason, production of ethanol from food waste is an interesting approach. Volumes of food waste are reduced and ethanol production does not compete with food production. In this work, we evaluated the possibility of using source-separated household food waste for the production of ethanol. To minimize the cost of ethanol production, the hydrolytic enzymes that are necessary for cellulose hydrolysis were produced in-house using the thermophillic fungus Myceliophthora thermophila. At the initial stage of the study, production of these thermophilic enzymes was studied and optimized, resulting in an activity of 0.28 FPU/mL in the extracellular broth. These enzymes were used to saccharify household food waste at a high dry material consistency of 30% w/w, followed by fermentation. Ethanol production reached 19.27 g/L with a volumetric productivity of 0.92 g/L⋅h, whereas only 5.98 g/L of ethanol was produced with a volumetric productivity of 0.28 g/L⋅h when no enzymatic saccharification was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how households buy, prepare and consume food, with resultant impacts on food waste generated. These impacts have not yet been properly understood, especially in the context of developing countries. Better understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on food management behavior of households can aid in the design of policy interventions to reduce the amounts of wasted food during disastrous events. This becomes particularly important in light of the likely pro-longed effect held by the pandemic on household lifestyles in the future. This study has segmented households in Turkey, a rapidly emerging economy, on the basis of the effects imposed by COVID-19 on their food management behavior. A two-step clustering analysis has been conducted on the factor scores of planned shopping and cooking skills. Three segments were identified: careless planners and cooks, resourceful planners and cooks and careless planners and resourceful cooks. The segments were further described using health orientation, price consciousness, environmental concern, food waste disposal routines and self-perception of the amount of food waste variables. The first and the smallest segment, careless planners and cooks, is characterized by low levels of planned shopping and cooking skills, with resultant significant wastage. The largest segment of resourceful planners and cooks demonstrates excellent planned shopping and cooking skills, with resultant small wastage. The segment of careless planners and resourceful cooks showcases excellent cooking skills, but poor skills of planned shopping. The study provides first known evidence to understand how Turkish households differ on the grounds of their food management behavior in the time of the pandemic, thus laying a foundation for future segmentation studies in Turkey and beyond. • 511 households in Turkey are segmented in line with their food management behavior during COVID-19. • Three segments are identified on the basis of planned shopping and cooking skills levels. • Turkish households have wasted less food during COVID-19. • Improved cooking skills contributed significantly to food waste reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household food waste is driven by consumer habits and behaviors. The necessary measures implemented during the lockdown worldwide to contain the Covid-19 pandemic altered these consumer practices. This paper examines how household's culinary traditions and food management have changed in Mexico as a result of Covid-related restrictions, and their impact on food waste. We obtained 525 answers using an online survey about food habits distributed through social networks in Mexico between December 2020 and January 2021. The results show that the participating households increased their monetary expenditure on groceries and reduced food waste during the pandemic. The estimation of consumer responsiveness to waste, through the introduction of a framework based on a Quadratic Almost-Ideal Demand System, confirms that, even more during the lockdown, food waste has become a luxury good. The analysis of food category changes allows for a detailed study useful to curtail the level of food waste in Mexican households and to encourage transition towards sustainable and circular consumption behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic changed consumers' purchasing and cooking behaviours, which may have resulted in changes in food waste. This study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on household food waste, as well as on purchasing, cooking, and food waste-related perceptions and behaviours among 19 households in Guelph, ON, Canada. Four-week food waste audits and online surveys were conducted in February–March 2020 (pre-COVID-19) and in July–August 2020 (post-COVID-19). Qualitative interviews were also conducted post-COVID-19 to explore participants' perceptions of household food changes due to COVID-19. Food waste results were analyzed using paired t -test, while survey results pre- and post-COVID-19 were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. While per capita food waste did not significantly change (meanpre = 1.076 kg per week, meanpost = 1.080 kg per week), total per capita unavoidable food waste (meanpre = 0.388 kg per week, meanpost = 0.614 kg per week) and pre capita unavoidable fruit and vegetable (meanpre = 0.289 kg per week, meanpost = 0.427 kg per week) waste significantly increased (p < 0.01) at post-COVID-19. Total per capita avoidable other waste decreased (meanpre = 0.385 kg per week, meanpost = 0.179 kg per week, p < 0.05). The increase in unavoidable food waste may relate to households cooking more often at home, as reported in interviews, or shopping less frequently and buying more per trip, as identified in the surveys. The decrease in avoidable food waste could be related to the increase in serving of leftovers (p < 0.01), as identified in the surveys, or an increase in meal planning and inventory management, as reported in interviews. Future studies should investigate whether food waste-related changes in behaviour remain after the pandemic as well as any factors associated with maintaining of these behaviours. Interventions may be an opportunity to help households maintain these changes. • The COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes in consumers' purchasing and cooking behaviours. • Our detailed waste audits pre and post-COVID-19 offer an objective measure of household food waste changes. • Only per capita avoidable food waste decreased and per capita unavoidable food waste increased from pre to post-COVID-19. • COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in household food waste among families in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic may have amplified the environmental, social, and economic implications of household food waste. A better understanding of household food wasting during the pandemic is needed to improve the management of waste and develop best practices for municipal waste management programs under crisis circumstances. A waste composition study was undertaken with 100 single-family households across the city of London, Ontario, Canada to determine the quantity and composition of household food waste disposed in June 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines how household demographic, socioeconomic, and neighbourhood food environment characteristics influence household food wasting. On average, each household sent 2.81 kg of food waste to landfill per week, of which 52% was classified as avoidable food waste and 48% as unavoidable food waste. The quantity and composition of household food waste was found to be strongly influenced by the number of people and children in a household, and somewhat influenced by socioeconomic factors and neighbourhood food environment characteristics, including the availability, density, and proximity of retail food outlets. • This is one of the only direct measurement studies of food waste during COVID-19. • During COVID-19, sample households sent 2.81 kg of food waste to landfill per week. • 52% of household food waste was classified as avoidable and 48% as unavoidable. • Food waste was influenced by the number of people and children in a household. • Proximity to and density of some food outlet types influenced unavoidable food waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Environmental issues and shortage of fossil fuels have turned the public interest to the utilization of renewable, environmentally friendly fuels, such as ethanol. In order to minimize the competition between fuels and food production, researchers are focusing their efforts to the utilization of wastes and by-products as raw materials for the production of ethanol. household food wastes are being produced in great quantities in European Union and their handling can be a challenge. Moreover, their disposal can cause severe environmental issues (for example emission of greenhouse gasses). On the other hand, they contain significant amounts of sugars (both soluble and insoluble) and they can be used as raw material for the production of ethanol. Results Household food wastes were utilized as raw material for the production of ethanol at high dry material consistencies. A distinct liquefaction/saccharification step has been included to the process, which rapidly reduced the viscosity of the high solid content substrate, resulting in better mixing of the fermenting microorganism. This step had a positive effect in both ethanol production and productivity, leading to a significant increase in both values, which was up to 40.81 % and 4.46 fold, respectively. Remaining solids (residue) after fermentation at 45 % w/v dry material (which contained also the unhydrolyzed fraction of cellulose), were subjected to a hydrothermal pretreatment in order to be utilized as raw material for a subsequent ethanol fermentation. This led to an increase of 13.16 % in the ethanol production levels achieving a final ethanol yield of 107.58 g/kg dry material. Conclusions In conclusion, the ability of utilizing household food waste for the production of ethanol at elevated dry material content has been demonstrated. A separate liquefaction/saccharification process can increase both ethanol production and productivity. Finally, subsequent fermentation of the remaining solids could lead to an increase of the overall ethanol production yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the middle of a great world financial crisis that also affects food security, it is important to characterize the habits of households concerning the buying and wasting food. With this study we intend (1) to uncover the patterns of Portuguese citizens concerning food waste by using a mixed research approach and (2) to identify demographic factors that can influence the production of food waste and that may support initiatives towards the education of society on food waste. We used a random sample of 542 Portuguese citizens to identify consumer profiles and 18 in-depth interviews for better understanding the uncovered profiles in a mixed method research approach. Through a two-latent class model two clusters of consumers were identified: cluster 1, the Non food waste citizens with 65% of respondents, mainly 24 years or more, female and married or divorced and cluster 2, the Food waste citizens with 35% of respondents, mainly up to 23 years old, male and single. Our findings may impact in two distinct ways: they may be used to educate Portuguese citizens concerning the issue of food waste and they may be useful in contributing to a less polluted world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An unconventional system for separate collection of food waste was investigated through evaluation of three full-scale systems in the city of Malmö, Sweden. Ground food waste is led to a separate settling tank where food waste sludge is collected regularly with a tank-vehicle. These tank-connected systems can be seen as a promising method for separate collection of food waste from both households and restaurants. Ground food waste collected from these systems is rich in fat and has a high methane potential when compared to food waste collected in conventional bag systems. The content of heavy metals is low. The concentrations of N-tot and P-tot in sludge collected from sedimentation tanks were on average 46.2 and 3.9g/kg TS, equalling an estimated 0.48 and 0.05kgN-tot and P-tot respectively per year and household connected to the food waste disposer system. Detergents in low concentrations can result in increased degradation rates and biogas production, while higher concentrations can result in temporary inhibition of methane production. Concentrations of COD and fat in effluent from full-scale tanks reached an average of 1068mg/l and 149mg/l respectively over the five month long evaluation period. Hydrolysis of the ground material is initiated between sludge collection occasions (30days). Older food waste sludge increases the degradation rate and the risks of fugitive emissions of methane from tanks between collection occasions. Increased particle size decreases hydrolysis rate and could thus decrease losses of carbon and nutrients in the sewerage system, but further studies in full-scale systems are needed to confirm this. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Children often hold significant power around what food is purchased and eaten. • Eating habits of children can interfere with parents' well-intentioned plans. • Parents are conflicted with needing children to eat and their desire for healthy food. • Supermarkets encourage impulse buying by targeting children with appealing promotions. This study reports parents' perceptions about children's influence on the generation of household food by collecting qualitative data from 15 focus groups of Australian householders from five culturally diverse communities. Key findings include food over-purchase to some extent results from children applying pressure on their parents to impulse buy supermarkets promoted products, fussy eating behaviours, and frequently changing preferences. Children's selective eating behaviours and preferences also cause food over-preparation and over-provisioning by parents. This study also identified that campaigns promoting imperfect shaped fruit and vegetables tend to be less effective with children as they desire perfect shaped fresh produce. We also identified that migrant communities tend to face the added complication of balancing traditional food for adults with their children requesting Australian foods. Our research presents policy implications in identifying children as quiet powerhouses in Australian households and suggests the need for targeted interventions to change children's food behaviour. Additionally, parents need to mirror these interventions in their households to reinforce desired changes in their children's food behaviours. There is also an opportunity for supermarkets, local councils and government agencies to redesign their marketing campaigns to educate children and parents about reducing food waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household food waste reduction is an important component of the EU action for waste management, and one of the subgoals of SDG 12. So far, policy actions have focused more on communication campaigns and food donations, and less on the link with sustainable production. Despite the growing number of publications, existing literature has not assessed the waste reduction potential of alternative food networks on the consumer side. Our preliminary study addresses this gap by conducting a pilot food waste quantification study on a sample of 24 households that adhere to community-supported agriculture or the alternative food networks in a municipality of Northern Italy. Given the small sample size, the external validity of these results needs to be tested in future studies. Nevertheless, preliminary results suggest that policymakers should consider the role of alternative food networks in the strategy to achieve SDG 12.3. This will require a revision of the approach currently being practiced in the sector, especially at the urban level. • Policy actions against food waste focus on communication and donations rather than on sustainable consumption & production. • Urban Food Policies follow the same approach, with few links between sustainable production & consumption and food waste. • So far, household food waste has never been studied in relation to Sustainable Community Movement Organizations (SCMOs). • Results of this study show that SCMOs participant waste about a half of mainstream consumers in Italy. • Urban Food Policies should consider the SCMOs as drivers of less food waste, addressing efforts towards this direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About one third of food are wasted or lost globally every year which causes the problems of environmental degradation, food security issues, and economic inefficiency. With the new mandatory source separation policy implemented in China, the main objective of this research is to identify the variables that impact household food waste reduction intention and to understand the role of perceived government control and perceived policy effectiveness from the perspective of households. Using a PLS-SEM model design, a questionnaire with nine constructs including theory of planned behaviors variables, perceived policy effectiveness, perceived government control, perceived consumer effectiveness, and environmental concern were answered by respondents (n = 3037). Results showed that the less well-studied variables of perceived government control are important in shaping shareholder's food waste intention. As expected, the theory of planned behavior variables, perceived consumer effectiveness, and environmental concern are positively related to reducing food waste intention, while strong perceived government control was associated with lowering intention in food waste reduction. This paper then extends existing understanding of psychological determinants of food waste by identifying perceived government control as mediator. [Display omitted] • Psychological determinants of food waste reduction intention. • Effectiveness of the mandatory source separation policy in China. • Perceived government control positively impacts the food waste reduction. • Combine theory of planned behavior and theory of self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The era of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a variety of individual lifestyle and behavioural changes, and could, therefore, potentially involve a shift towards more sustainable food systems. This research was conducted through an online survey of cross-sectional design. We surveyed 8272 Canadians in August of 2020. Participants answered questions about socio-demographic food waste amounts in kilograms, and food-waste-management behaviours. In this exploratory study, we assessed the relationships between socio-demographic variables, and self-reported food-waste behaviours through two-tailed significance testing. Results indicated that Canadian households self-reported an insignificant decrease in food waste during the pandemic. Respondents reported allowing food to expire, not utilizing leftovers, and not finishing meals. Understanding food-waste behaviour changes is key to designing effective mitigation strategies to reduce household food waste and to minimize the environmental consequences with which food waste is associated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the large amount of food waste coming from households, reducing household food waste is essential to the mitigation of overall food waste and the provision of multi-faceted benefits for both people and the planet. This study identifies factors and management strategies for the reduction of household food waste in the Taiwanese household setting. Using snowball sampling, semi-structured interviews are conducted to collect data from 27 household food providers in Taipei. The research findings identify four critical motivators and four barriers to minimizing household food waste in Taiwan. The most frequently mentioned motivator for the reduction of food waste is a convenient shopping environment, and the most important barrier is lack of knowledge for assessing the edibility of food. Additionally, four major prevention strategies are identified to help reduce household food waste: (1) planned purchase schedule; (2) skills to keep food fresh and longer; (3) understanding family preferences and leftover management, and (4) sharing additional food and co-procurement and cooking. The results of this study not only help improve the understanding and application of Chinese household food waste reduction, but also demonstrate the significance of its socio-cultural impacts in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]