Changes in households' stances on wasting food during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62156489%3A43110%2F22%3A43922204" target="_blank" >RIV/62156489:43110/22:43922204 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="http://www.wasteforum.cz/cisla/WF_3_2022.pdf#page=13" target="_blank" >http://www.wasteforum.cz/cisla/WF_3_2022.pdf#page=13</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Changes in households' stances on wasting food during the COVID-19 pandemic

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

In developed countries in Europe, households, meaning consumers, are part of the links of the food chain that contribute the most to overall food waste. This results in considerably adverse economic, social, and also environmental impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic, which erupted at the beginning of 2020, brought with it unprecedented changes on a global scale that deepened concerns regarding resources and led to an even greater effort to reduce food waste. Although the research that has already been performed shows results that are not united in view of the real change to the amount of consumer food waste caused by the pandemic, the results do agree that, during the pandemic, consumers began to contemplate food waste more, at least tried to reduce the amount of food they wasted, and also started to cook more at home. This article looks at how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the subjective stances and habits of Czech households when handling and wasting food, as well as the actual changes seen in this area during the pandemic. The results are based on an analysis and comparison of primary data (the Mann-Whitney U test was used) achieved via two questionnaire surveys amongst Czech households, which were held during the pandemic&apos;s first (395 respondents) and second outbreaks (442 respondents). In the subjective estimates of the amount of households&apos; food waste, a shift may be seen towards higher estimates of the amount of food wasted. Before the pandemic, this estimate was set at 12.27 kg/person/year, however, it rose to 15.43 kg/person/year during the pandemic. Statistically significant changes may also be found in the causes of food waste in households. Although food spoiling and exceeded use-by and best before dates are still the main causes of food waste, we can track an increase in the number of households that also throw out food because they purchase packages that are too large and are unable to consume them in time. During the pandemic, more households started to purchase food regularly, inspect the condition of their supplies before going shopping, and purchase large packages of food. More households also admitted that, during the pandemic, it was more difficult for them to plan when to prepare and consume at home so that nothing would be thrown away and that shopping for food to prepare and consume immediately ended up costing more than before the pandemic. In terms of the individual categories of food, this primarily resulted in a reduced frequency of fruits and vegetables being thrown out, however, the opposite is true for meat products, home-cooked meals, and ready-made meals brought home from restaurants. No statistically significant change was observed for bakery products during either period, even though bakery products are similar to fruits and vegetables in that they remain the most often wasted type of food.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Changes in households' stances on wasting food during the COVID-19 pandemic

Popis výsledku anglicky

In developed countries in Europe, households, meaning consumers, are part of the links of the food chain that contribute the most to overall food waste. This results in considerably adverse economic, social, and also environmental impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic, which erupted at the beginning of 2020, brought with it unprecedented changes on a global scale that deepened concerns regarding resources and led to an even greater effort to reduce food waste. Although the research that has already been performed shows results that are not united in view of the real change to the amount of consumer food waste caused by the pandemic, the results do agree that, during the pandemic, consumers began to contemplate food waste more, at least tried to reduce the amount of food they wasted, and also started to cook more at home. This article looks at how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the subjective stances and habits of Czech households when handling and wasting food, as well as the actual changes seen in this area during the pandemic. The results are based on an analysis and comparison of primary data (the Mann-Whitney U test was used) achieved via two questionnaire surveys amongst Czech households, which were held during the pandemic&apos;s first (395 respondents) and second outbreaks (442 respondents). In the subjective estimates of the amount of households&apos; food waste, a shift may be seen towards higher estimates of the amount of food wasted. Before the pandemic, this estimate was set at 12.27 kg/person/year, however, it rose to 15.43 kg/person/year during the pandemic. Statistically significant changes may also be found in the causes of food waste in households. Although food spoiling and exceeded use-by and best before dates are still the main causes of food waste, we can track an increase in the number of households that also throw out food because they purchase packages that are too large and are unable to consume them in time. During the pandemic, more households started to purchase food regularly, inspect the condition of their supplies before going shopping, and purchase large packages of food. More households also admitted that, during the pandemic, it was more difficult for them to plan when to prepare and consume at home so that nothing would be thrown away and that shopping for food to prepare and consume immediately ended up costing more than before the pandemic. In terms of the individual categories of food, this primarily resulted in a reduced frequency of fruits and vegetables being thrown out, however, the opposite is true for meat products, home-cooked meals, and ready-made meals brought home from restaurants. No statistically significant change was observed for bakery products during either period, even though bakery products are similar to fruits and vegetables in that they remain the most often wasted type of food.

Druh

J_SC - Článek v periodiku v databázi SCOPUS

CEP obor

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OECD FORD obor

50401 - Sociology

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/TL02000092" target="_blank" >TL02000092: Podpora pro-environmentálních vzorců chování a incentivy pro behaviorální změnu v produkci potravinových odpadů a plýtvání</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2022

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Waste Forum

ISSN

1804-0195

e-ISSN

1804-0195

Svazek periodika

Neuveden

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

3

Stát vydavatele periodika

CZ - Česká republika

Počet stran výsledku

18

Strana od-do

161-178

Kód UT WoS článku

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EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85139759726