What a Waste! A Study of Food Wastage Behavior in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on analyzing food wastage behavior of consumers in Singapore. Qualitative research with experts from food waste management organizations and restaurant operators indicated key reasons for food wastage to be food spoilage, risk of hurting brand due to substandard food, lack of appropriate methods for sorting food, reverse logistics for proper waste collection/disposal, and appropriate recycling facilities. High costs of waste disposal, lack of government incentives or regulations governing service providers, and lack of awareness among consumers also contributed to solid food waste in Singapore. A survey with consumers recorded their habits with regard to planning food purchases, food wastage while cooking, and wastage during consumption of cooked, canned, and ready-to-eat products. A stepwise multiple discriminant analysis done on a key categorical variable “How much effort do you take to minimize amount of uneaten food you throw away?” yielded two groups that differed significantly along several attitudinal/behavioral dimensions.

KEYWORDS:

• Food wastage
• sustainability
• social entrepreneurship
• multiple discriminant analysis

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the efforts of three students of S. P. Jain School of Global Management: Sreevatsan Sreenivasan, Viswanath Krishnan, and Urvashi Jain, whose commendable contributions have made this research possible.