Food waste is a critical challenge for sustainable development, with significant economic, social, and environmental consequences. In 2022, the EU generated over 59 million tonnes of food waste, amounting to 132 kg per person. Behavioural interventions can effectively promote pro-environmental behaviour, including reducing consumer food waste. However, given the various contextual- and individual-level drivers of food waste, a `one-size-fits-all´ approach can be ineffective or inefficient. In contrast, tailored and targeted interventions adapted to the specific factors influencing individuals’ food waste practices could better prevent food waste in households.
The case for targeted and tailored interventions underscores the importance of segmentation analyses to identify consumer groups that share common characteristics in their food management practices.This study utilised latent class regression modelling to identify different types of consumers segments based on survey data from all 27 EU Member States. We found three profiles of consumers based on their food waste behaviour:
- Unconcerned food wasters: people who frequently waste food, mainly motivated by personal interest and convenience.
- Pragmatic food wasters: people who waste food occasionally, mainly motivated by practical considerations.
- Aware food wasters: people who waste food occasionally, motivated by holistic considerations (environmental, ethical etc.).
Although these consumer profiles are distributed differently in each EU country, all consumers showed a low level of understanding concerning date marking on food.
The report also provides recommendations of different types of actions, tailored for each consumer profile, distinguishing between informative actions, tools and coaching interventions.
The final report of the study is available at the following link: https://food.ec.europa.eu/document/download/a2fbf718-3e45-4948-84eb-7ca7e55d27e5_en?filename=fw_eu_actions_dm_sante_waste-data-segmentation_report.pdf
Additionally, factsheets and animations summarising the main results of the study can be found here: https://food.ec.europa.eu/food-safety/food-waste/eu-actions-against-food-waste/date-marking-and-food-waste-prevention_en.