The report presents the results from a qualitative research into household food waste in Hungary, Germany, Spain and The Netherlands. In each of the individual countries, six focus groups are conducted. This report presents the most striking similarities and differences between the countries and the analysis per country. It shows that awareness and motivation regarding food waste are present and on the rise in all countries but to different degrees and with different contingencies, depending on socio-cultural and socio-economic factors.
Different methods of assessing consumer in-home food waste are compared in this report: survey on food waste in general; survey on food waste in the past week; keeping a food waste diary; letting consumers photograph their food waste; letting consumers collect food waste in kitchen caddies. Results indicate which survey questions appear suitable to measure food waste in large surveys, and which can best be avoided. It also provides insights in new measurement methods for smaller samples.
Common qualitative research protocol for application in other countries as part of the Community of Experts initiative of the REFRESH project.
Consumer food waste is not the consequence of discarding waste, but of the accumulation of behaviours performed earlier in time. This report describes and interlinks the behaviours leading to waste and the factors influencing them. This report has integrated prior research into one theoretical framework in which the focus lies on the motivation, the abilities and the opportunities of consumers to prevent food waste while managing their household.
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