This report translates the findings of the REFRESH project on consumer behaviour into policy recommendations. It helps national and regional policy makers in designing and improving appropriate interventions against food waste. It focus on policy instruments that aim to reduce consumer food waste including in-home and out-of-home consumption.
Policy options for behaviour change including public campaigns
Policy instruments that exist to influence consumer food waste can be clustered into five categories:
- Information and awareness raising campaigns
- Regulation
- Economic instruments
- Nudging/change of consumer's choice architecture and
- Voluntary agreements.
Within the EU the most often used instrument so far is public campaigns that have been designed to provide information that increases awareness of the consequences of food waste. However, there are only very few studies that have evaluated to what extent these activities actually reduced or prevented food waste. Meta-analysis of pro-environmental behaviour experiments though have shown that intervention strategies that only provide information belong to the least successful. So the common assumption that providing information is sufficient to induce behavioural change is not supported by the evidence.
The reports key recommendations are summarized in the REFRESH Policy Brief: Reducing consumer food waste.
Citation:
Wunder, S., van Herpen, E., McFarland, K., Ritter, A., van Geffen, L.E.J., Stenmarck, A., Hulten, J. 2019: Policies against consumer food waste. Policy options for behaviour change including public campaigns. REFRESH Deliverable 3.4
Language:
- English
Attachments:
Publishing date:
04/03/2019
Language:
Citation:
Wunder, S., van Herpen, E., McFarland, K., Ritter, A., van Geffen, L.E.J., Stenmarck, A., Hulten, J. 2019: Policies against consumer food waste. Policy options for behaviour change including public campaigns. REFRESH Deliverable 3.4
Deliverable:
Background report contributing to "REFRESH Policy Brief: Reducing consumer food waste" (D3.4)
