Why do we waste food? In-depth interviews with consumers

ABSTRACT

Although the food production is considered the biggest environmental impact, every year one-third of the global food supply is wasted. Through in-depth interviews with Croatian consumers, current study investigates their motivation to avoid food waste as well as behavioral obstacles. The findings classify eight predictors of dealing with food waste. Three categories were positively related to reducing, four categories represent barriers to the reduction of food waste, and one category is related to a certain lifestyle which can cause a food waste.

KEYWORDS:

• In-depth interview
• household
• food waste
• prevention
• food behavior

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Branka Ilakovac

Branka Ilakovac is President of Non-governmental expert organization Food Waste Prevention Centre – FWPC, Zagreb, Croatia, which is active in creating public campaigns for consumers and media about food waste topic. She holds a PhD from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture. Her thesis examined the households behaviour in food waste management. She has 14 years of working experience with Croatian Environmental Agency. She was engaged as expert in international projects on waste education, food waste prevention and education on sustainable waste management. She is the first author and co-author in several scientific papers and abstracts on food waste research.

Marija Cerjak

Marija Cerjak is a full professor at the Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb, University of Zagreb, at the Department of Marketing in Agriculture. In her scientific work, she focuses on the field of market and marketing in agribusiness, especially on market research and consumer behavior. She has published several scientific papers in the country and abroad, and has participated in many domestic and international scientific conferences. She was engaged in several domestic and international scientific projects and was the leader (coordinator for Croatia) in five international projects.

Neven Voca

Neven Voca is a full professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Department of Agricultural Technology, Storage and Transport. His scientific work is focused on the field of agricultural waste, energy recovery of waste and biomass utilization. As an author and co-author, he has published 150 scientific and professional papers. He has led and participated in a several international and Croatian scientific and professional projects.is a full professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Department of Agricultural Technology, Storage and Transport. His scientific work is focused on the field of agricultural waste, energy recovery of waste and biomass utilization. As an author and co-author, he has published 150 scientific and professional papers. He has led and participated in a several international and Croatian scientific and professional projects.