From Meanings to Action: Understanding and Promoting Food Waste Reduction

Food waste is a complex issue that arises in the later stages of the food supply chain and involves a wide range of actors, from retailers and households to schools, offices, and healthcare facilities. Its implications extend far beyond the mere disposal of edible goods, encompassing substantial environmental and economic costs as well as ethical and value-based considerations. The complexity of food waste lies precisely in the diversity of its causes, manifestations, and consequences. This thesis seeks to explore that complexity through a series of complementary studies that combine qualitative and quantitative methods with the aim of offering an integrated understanding of food waste behaviours and their underlying drivers. This thesis also has practical implications, as it explores different intervention strategies aiming to help manage and reduce household food waste. Study 1 employs a qualitative approach, conducting twenty semi-structured interviews with Italian adults to capture their in-depth experiences, narratives, and perceptions surrounding food waste. The study explores the symbolic and value-based meanings attributed to food and food waste, as well as everyday waste-related behaviours and preventive strategies across domestic and out-of-home contexts. Thematic analysis reveals the multifaceted nature of food waste in everyday life, highlighting the significant influence of emotions, perceptions of injustice, institutional roles, communication practices, and differing views on the value of food and responsibility for waste. Study 2 employs a correlational design grounded in the Theory of Planned Behaviour, expanding this framework to identify a broader set of psychological variables capable of predicting intentions to reduce food waste and adoption of preventive strategies. It enhances the model's explanatory value by demonstrating the predictive value of measures of injustice and guilt related to food waste and eco-guilt. Studies 3 to 6, instead, translate the knowledge gained in the initial phases into intervention-oriented research targeting household food waste. Studies 3 and 4 test the effectiveness of implementation intentions and coping strategies within a single-wave experimental design (a pilot study) and a longitudinal experimental design, aiming to facilitate change in attitudes, intentions, and control over the goal of reducing food waste, as well as in actual food waste. Study 5 investigates the motivational drivers sustaining intentions to reduce food waste, using informational and motivational nudges that leverage three key value-based motivations: the economic, environmental, and social consequences of food waste, over a 9-day period, to help participants reduce their food waste over time. Study 6 extends this motivational perspective to a non-domestic leisure context, examining food waste behaviours among campers at Camping Village Le Esperidi in Tuscany and exploring how situational factors influence waste-related decisions. Taken together, this thesis aims to offer a comprehensive and empirically grounded account of the socio-psychological, contextual, and value-based factors that shape food waste behaviours. By integrating diverse methods and perspectives, the thesis contributes to a more nuanced understanding of food waste and provides evidence-informed directions for designing effective interventions in both domestic and leisure settings.