Public attitude to food waste: the case of Lithuania
Skaidrė Žičkienė
Šiauliai University, LithuaniaAla Kovierienė
Šiauliai University, Institute of Regional Development, LithuaniaVaiva Griščiūtė
Ltd. “Šiauliai Quarry”, Šiauliai, LithuaniaAbstract
The purpose of the research is to investigate consumers’ perception concerning food wastage and their awareness of economic, social and environmental costs concerning the issue. The research focused on the concept of food waste in context of consumers’ attitude regarding this problem. Comparative analysis, synthesis and evaluation of scientific literature and legal documents, statistical data collection and analysis was performed together with the results of on-line survey of 500 households representing 1494 inhabitants from all Lithuanian counties. Data was analysed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS): descriptive statistics, frequencies, crosstabs. Lithuanians discard relatively small amounts of wholesome edible food in comparison with averages for EU 27, but most of them have the limited knowledge of the meaning of “best-before” dates, consumers are strongly influenced by retail promotions, and wasting food for them is primarily associated with a waste of money. State waste management policy is focused on waste sorting, while this research provides the evidence that households are insufficiently informed about economic, social and environmental costs concerning food waste. This underlines the necessity to review the current state policy with emphasis on public education as an important factor in minimizing household food waste. Lithuanians recognize that the consumers are mostly responsible for food waste, but food wasting is treated mainly as financial lost. The added value of this article is the proposal to create information campaigns that will cause a sense of guilt for food squandering.Keywords:
waste management, food waste, consumer behaviour, householdsReferences
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Williams, H.; Wikstrom, F.; Otterbring, T.; Löfgren, M.; Gustafsson, A. (2012). Reasons for household food waste with special attention to packaging. Journal of Cleaner Production 24:141-148.
Baker, D.; Fear, J.; Denniss, R. (2009). What a Waste: An Analysis of Household Expenditure on Food. Australia: The Australia Institute, Policy Brief No. 6.
Beretta, C.; Stoessel, F.; Baier, U.; Hellweg, S. (2012). Quantifying food losses and the potential for reduction in Switzerland. Waste Management 33(3): 764-773.
Doron, N. (2012). Waste not, want not: how fairness concerns can shift attitudes to food waste. London: Fabian Society.
European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. (2017). Report on initiative on resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety. European Parliament (2016/2223(INI). Available at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2017-0175_EN.html. Accessed 19 April 2018
Food and Agriculture Organization (1981). Food loss prevention in perishable crops. Rome: Agricultural Service Bulletin No. 43, FAO Statistics.
Food and Agriculture Organization (2012). FAO regional conference for Africa. Congo: Twenty-seventh session, Brazzaville, April 23-27.
Food and Agriculture Organization (2013). Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources. Rome: FAO.
Food and Agriculture Organization (2018). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2018. Rome: FAO.
FSA (2008). Consumer attitudes to food standards. UK: Food Standards Agency, Wave 8.
Graham-Rowe, E.; Jessop, D. C.; Sparks, P. (2014). Identifying motivations and barriers to minimizing household food waste. Resource, Conservation Recycling 84: 15-23.
Gustavsson, J.; Cederberg, C.; Sonesson, U.; van Otterdijk, R.; Meybeck, A. (2011). Global Food Losses and Food Waste: Extent, Causes and Prevention. Rome: FAO.
Koivupuro, H.-K.; Hartikainen, H.; Silvennoinen, K.; Katajajuuri, J.-M.; Heikintalo, N.; Reinikainen, A.; Jalkanen, L. (2012). Influence of socio-demographical, behavioural and attitudinal factors on the amount of avoidable food waste generated in Finnish households. International Journal of Consumer Studies 36: 183-191.
Lyndhurst, B. (2007). Food behaviour consumer research–findings from the quantitative survey. UK: Briefing Paper, WRAP.
Michaud, J. C.; Farrant, L.; Jan, O.; Kjær, B.; Bakas, I. (2010). Environmental benefits of recycling – 2010 update. UK: WRAP,
Monier, V.; Shailendra, M.; Escalon, V.; O’Connor, C.; Gibon, T.; Anderson, G. et al. (2010). Preparatory Study on Food Waste across EU 27: Final Report. Brussels: European Commission (DG ENV) Directorate C-Industry.
Morgan, K. (2009). Feeding the city, The challenge of urban food planning. International Planning Studies, 14(4): 341-348.
Papargyropoulou, E.; Lozano, R.; Steinberger, J.K.; Wright, N.; bin Ujang, Z. (2014). The food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of food surplus and food waste. Journal of Cleaner Production 76: 106-115.
Parfitt, J.; Barthel, M.; Macnaughton, S. (2010). Food waste within food supply chains: quantification and potential for change to 2050. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: 3065-3081.
Peckan, G.; Köksal. E.; Küçükerdönmez, Ö.; Özel, H. (2005). Household food wastage in Turkey. Turkey: working paper [ESS / ESSA/006e].
Quested, T. E.; Marsh, E.; Stunell, D.; Parry, A. D. (2013). Spaghetti Soup: The Complex World of Food Waste Behaviours. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 79: 43-51.
Östergren, K.; Gustavsson, J.; Bos-Brouwers, H.; Timmermans, T.; Hansen, O-J.; Møller, H. et all. (2014).
Reducing food waste through social innovation. Fusions, Definitional Framework for Food Waste, Full Report, 4 July. Available at: https://www.eu-fusions.org/phocadownload/Publications/FUSIONS%20Definitional%20Framework%20for%20Food%20Waste%202014.pdf. Accessed 13 March 2018.
Richter, B. (2017). Knowledge and perception of food waste among German consumersm. Journal of Cleaner Production 166: 641-648.
Segre, A.; Falasconi, L.; Politano, A.; Vittuari, M. (2014). Save Food: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction. Rome: Background paper on the economics of food loss and waste, FAO. Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/i9553en/i9553en.pdf. Accessed 22 February 2018.
Statistical Yearbook of Lithuania (2018). Lithuania in Figures. Vilnius: Statistics Lithuania.
Stenmarck, A.; Jensen, C.; Quested, T. (2016). Estimates of European food waste levels, Reducing food waste through social innovation. Stockholm: EU project, Fusions.
Storup, K.; Mattfolk, K.; Voinea, D.; Jakobsen, B.; Bain, M.; Reverté i Casas, M. E.; Oliveira, P. et al. (2016). Combating Food Waste: an opportunity for the EU to improve the resource-efficiency of the food supply chain. Luxembourg: Special Report, European court of auditors.
Toma, L.; Costa Font, M.; Thompson, B. (2017). Impact of consumers’ understanding of date labelling on food waste behaviour. Operational Research: 1-8.
Ventour, L. (2008). The Food We Waste. UK: Food waste report v2, WRAP. Available at: https://www.lefigaro.fr/assets/pdf/Etude%20gaspillage%20alimentaire%20UK2008.pdf. Accessed 20 January 2018.
Vitunskienė, V.; Jazepčikas, D.; Šimkus, E. (2016). Extent and causes of food waste in Lithuania, Long-term Agroecosystem Sustainability: Links between Carbon Sequestration in Soils, Food Security and Climate Change”, in International scientific conference AgroEco 2016, Aleksandras Stulginskis University, Lithuania.
Waste and Resources Action Programme (2012). Annual Report and Consolidated Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2012. UK: WRAP. Available at: http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/WRAP%20Annual%20Report%20and%20Consolidated%20Accounts%20March%202012.pdf. Accessed 5 February 2018.
Williams, H.; Wikstrom, F.; Otterbring, T.; Löfgren, M.; Gustafsson, A. (2012). Reasons for household food waste with special attention to packaging. Journal of Cleaner Production 24:141-148.
Žičkienė, S., Kovierienė, A., & Griščiūtė, V. (2020). Public attitude to food waste: the case of Lithuania. Economic and Environmental Studies, 20(1 (53), 24–47. https://doi.org/10.25167/ees.2020.53.2
Authors
Skaidrė ŽičkienėAuthors
Ala KovierienėAuthors
Vaiva GriščiūtėStatistics
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