Delivery, impact and approach of household food waste reduction campaigns

Abstract

Food waste is a serious issue that has significant environmental, economic, and social impacts. Huge amounts of food are lost worldwide during the process of food production, from the stage of agricultural production to the disposal of food waste. This paper presents a review on: (1) the delivery of food waste reduction programs that aim to motivate a change in consumer behavior at the household level, (2) the impacts, and (3) the conditions or approaches for conducting these programs based on household food waste programs in developed and developing countries. In other words, we discuss the delivery and impacts of program measures that have been adopted to reduce food waste. In developed and developing countries, many activities (e.g., campaigns, talks, exhibitions, the publication of articles) have been implemented to raise awareness about how to make significant impacts concerning food waste issues. While environmental and economic approaches have been widely used in intervention programs, the application of a faith-based approach has not been investigated in detail. So, in this review paper, we gathered all of the cases that have been conducted in both developed and developing countries to compare what has been done to curb the food waste issue. Although many activities to reduce food waste have been conducted in developing countries, their impacts are not always completely reported, and in some cases, the corresponding programs were discontinued due to financial constraints. For future studies, a faith-based approach should also be considered as a way to educate people in food waste reduction.