Name of the organisation/ institution: Biovaaka Oy
Country: Biovaaka Oy
Geographical scope (e.g. EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia): EU, selected non-EU markets
Website address: https://biovaaka.fi/en/
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Biovaaka develops and provides solutions to help prevent and reduce food waste in restaurants and professional kitchens.
Our comprehensive and scalable solution enables continuous tracking of food production and waste in all the restaurant and kitchen processes, making food waste and its impacts visible to the restaurant customers and kitchen staff, and includes a comprehensive analytics solution to help lead and develop restaurant and kitchen operations based on meaningful metrics.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Biovaaka develops and provides solutions to help prevent and reduce food waste in restaurants and professional kitchens. We can together contribute to improving the efficiency of the entire food system and create a positive handprint by reducing food waste at the end of the food chain.
Our comprehensive and scalable solution enables continuous tracking of food production and waste in all the restaurant and kitchen processes, making food waste and its impacts visible to the restaurant customers and kitchen staff, and includes a comprehensive analytics solution to help lead and develop restaurant and kitchen operations based on meaningful metrics.
Image caption: Biovaaka solution for restaurants and professional kitchens
We provide different tracking solutions that enable scaling the solution according to the unique needs of different kinds of restaurant and kitchen environments to make food production and waste tracking seamless and effective.
Making the food waste and its impact visible engages the restaurant customers and kitchen staff in a joint effort to prevent and reduce food waste, influencing their mental models and behaviour.
We help our customers drive the change to prevent and reduce food waste in their operations and communicate about their efforts and results. As a result, our customers have achieved up to a 50 % reduction in the amount of food waste produced, translating into significant economic and environmental savings.
Supporting links and documents:
Pitch video and pitch deck in pdf format. Our recent EIT FAN, Food and Beyond collective blog post: https://foodandbeyond.eu/food-for-thought/biovaaka-helps-to-improve-food-system-effectiveness-by-reducing-food-waste/
Contact details (optional):
Jukka Hänninen Chief Operating Officer jukka.hanninen@biovaaka.fi
Name of the organisation/ institution: Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), European Commission
Country of HQ: Belgium
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): EU
Website address: https://food.ec.europa.eu/safety/food-waste_en
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
The EU and the EU countries are committed to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level by 2030, and reduce food losses along the food production and supply chains.
As called for by the EU Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system (2020), the Commission will seek to step up action to prevent food loss and waste across the EU.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Reducing food loss and waste is an integral part of the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy’s Action Plan. The Commission will propose:
The Commission will also further integrate food loss and waste prevention in other EU policies, investigate and explore ways of preventing food losses at the production stage, and continue to mobilise all players by encouraging implementation of the recommendations for action of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste.
The Commission has adopted EU food donation guidelines in order to facilitate the recovery and redistribution of safe, edible food to those in need. The Commission has also published guidance making recommendations on some simple additional good hygiene practices that contribute to ensuring the safe redistribution of surplus food. Amendments to EU food hygiene rules have been made in order to lay down certain requirements to facilitate safe food donation practices: 1) addressing, amongst others, how the "use by" and "best before" dates shall be applied in the context of food redistribution and 2) allowing the freezing of meat at retail, under certain conditions, to facilitate the safe redistribution of meat products by food banks and other charities.
Supporting links and documents:
Overview of EU actions against food losses and food waste: https://food.ec.europa.eu/safety/food-waste/eu-actions-against-food-waste_en
The Commission supports exchange of good practices to prevent and reduce food losses and food waste through the EU Food Loss and Waste Prevention Hub, a "one-stop-shop" for stakeholders active in the area of food loss and waste prevention and reduction: https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste/eu-food-loss-waste-prevention-hub
Contact details: SANTE-FOOD-WASTE@ec.europa.eu
Name of the organisation/ institution: EIT Food, European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Food
Country of HQ: Leuven, Belgium
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): EU-scope
Website address: eitfood.eu
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Our current linear model of ‘make, use, and dispose’ is inefficient, wasteful and unsustainable. We need to move from this to a circular food system where we use resources more efficiently and re-use side and waste streams. At EIT Food, we are working with entrepreneurs and food system stakeholders to drive innovation forward and scale sustainable, circular food solutions.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Overview of the practical solutions that have been developed and applied (or being applied) to prevent and reduce food loss and waste
Many examples, from innovation projects to startups in all phases of the entrepreneurial journey – below some key examples:
Olive oil production, for example, results in only 20% of the olive fruit being used, with the other 80% - known as olive pomace - considered as a by-product or waste (9). The EIT Food project PHENOLIVA aims to find a solution to this and contribute to the circular economy of olive oil production. Olive pomace has high antioxidant content and can be used as a low-cost, fully circular food additive (9). Antioxidant additives are used to increase the shelf life of foods by preventing deterioration caused by oxidation (10). Therefore, in this case of olive pomace, ‘waste’ can be prevented by using ‘waste’.
EIT Food RisingFoodStar Mimica, for example, has created a solution to prevent waste caused by overcautious food expiration dates. The product, Mimica Touch, is a label or cap that turns bumpy when the food inside spoils, providing an accurate, real-time indication of when food is safe to eat and when cannot be consumed.
EIT Food RisingFoodStar Orbisk is also on a mission to reduce food waste in the food service industry. Using AI technology, Orbisk connects smart cameras, weighing scales and waste bins to register food being thrown away up to the ingredient level. This aims to assist food service businesses to make more informed decisions about how much food to purchase, and when, thus reducing their waste and optimising their profit margins.
Initiatives such as EIT Food’s FutureLearn course ‘From waste to
value: How to tackle food
waste’ enable consumers to discover the causes and impact of food waste and how to
tackle it on
personal, community and national levels. With tips about how to repurpose waste, rethink
traditional ways of preparing meals, as well as the wide range of initiatives that are making it
easier to share food locally, courses such as this mean users can reflect on a personal as well
as wider level as to how they can support the circular economy.
Supporting links and documents: Please reach out to me via email and/or have a look at the links below:
https://www.eitfood.eu/blog/transitioning-to-a-circular-food-economy-the-solution-for-food-waste-and-food-loss https://www.eitfood.eu/discover/circular-food-systems
Contact details: marie.ammann@eitfood.eu
Name of the organisation/ institution: European Food Banks Federation (FEBA)
Country of HQ: Belgium
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global):
Europe
FEBA represents members in 30 European countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
Website address: www.eurofoodbank.org
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Brief description of the focus of work in reducing food loss and waste (e.g. research, measurement, policy development, advocacy, etc.).
The European Food Banks Federation (FEBA) is a European non-profit organisation and works in collaboration with 24 Full Members and 6 Associate Members in 30 European countries. Since 1986, FEBA’s mission has consisted in representing its membership at European and international level; supporting and strengthening Food Banks in Europe by providing training, sharing best practices and knowledge, establishing partnerships; and fostering the creation and development of new Food Banks. FEBA brings together a network of Food Banks which are committed to prevent food waste and to reduce food insecurity.
In 2021, the 341 Food Banks belonging to our membership redistributed 907,280 tonnes of food to 45,810 charitable organisations providing food assistance to 11.8 million most deprived people thanks to the professionalism of 39,781 co-workers (83% volunteers). In addition to surplus food from the food supply chain, FEBA Members also redistribute food from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) and the EU Fruits and Vegetables withdrawal scheme, as well as from individual and corporate food collections.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Overview of the practical solutions that have been developed and applied (or being applied) to prevent and reduce food loss and waste.
Food donation is a beneficial solution to prevent food waste and reduce food insecurity: it is a business friendly, environmentally sensitive, and socially responsible alternative.
Supporting links and documents:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/eurofoodbanks/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EuroFoodBanks/
Twitter https://twitter.com/eurofoodbanks
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/eurofoodbanks/
Contact details:
European Food Banks Federation
Chaussée de Louvain, 775 – 1140 Brussels, Belgium
+32 (0)2 538 9450
Name of the organisation/ institution: GLOVO
Country of HQ: Spain
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): Europe, Central Asia, Africa.
Website address: https://about.glovoapp.com/
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
At Glovo, our vision is to give everyone easy access to anything in the cities where we operate. We want to become the 1st impact-driven delivery app by using our core business pillars and our platform to create positive social and environmental value on our local communities. Our long term goals include a commitment to reduce our carbon footprint by 42% in 2030, a target validated by the SBT Initiative, by cracking some of the biggest challenges in the food delivery industry like electrification of logistics, the phasing-out from plastic packaging and solving the food waste crisis.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Glovo’s food waste strategy is threefold:
Supporting links and documents:
Contact details:
Head of Impact & Sustainability : sebastien.pellion@glovoapp.com
PR Impact & Sustainability : carles.hernandez@glovoapp.com
Name of the organisation/ institution: Mimica
Country of HQ: United Kingdom
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): UK, EU
Website address: mimicalab.com
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Multidisciplinary research
& development of intelligent food packaging
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Overview of the
practical solutions that have been developed and applied (or being applied) to prevent and
reduce food loss and waste.
Mimica is an award-winning design-led UK company with a mission to radically reduce unnecessary food waste caused by overcautious expiry dates. Our first product, Mimica Touch, is a patented label or cap integrated into food or beverage packaging, that turns bumpy when food or drinks should no longer be consumed, based on actual temperature conditions. It provides an accurate, real-time indication of the product’s freshness with a tactile interface. Having a more accurate and responsive system will reduce food waste and improve food safety and is the logical next step from the current printed date system.
Key milestones: 10+ awards, 2 patents granted, Solar Impulse Foundation Efficient Label certification, 5 live customer projects.
Supporting links and documents: Watch our 2 minute video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3QuNlPP-sA
Contact details: info@mimicalab.com
Name of the organisation/ institution: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Türkiye
Country of HQ: Türkiye
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global):
Türkiye
Website address: www.gidanikoru.com www.tarimorman.gov.tr
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Implementing Türkiye’s
national strategy document on prevention, reduction and monitoring of food loss and waste and
its action plan in cooperation with all relevant stakeholders (public, NGO, private sector,
academia and international organizations)
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
The following points
are summarized in the National Strategy Document and Action Plan, which could be downloaded from
here: https://www.fao.org/3/cb1074en/CB1074EN.pdf
Energy recovery from organic food waste, without competing with safe and nutritious food recovery and redistribution for direct human consumption
Supporting links and documents:
www.gidanikoru.com
Name of the organisation/ institution: Neolithics
Country of HQ: Israel
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global):
Global
Website address: neolithics.ai
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Neolithics is maximizing
retail value and minimizing food waste of fresh products across the grocery supply chain.
We’re providing optic-software quality control systems for fresh product grading and sorting. Our systems empower packing houses and distribution centers with increased inventory value and reduced food waste by maximizing visibility of inventory quality, shelf life, and safety, processing thousands of tons of gross produce every day.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Neolithics is
developing optical-software quality control systems for fresh produce grading and sorting. Our
systems enable grocery supply chain players to increase inventory value and reduce food waste by
maximizing visibility of inventory quality, safety, and shelf life.
Neolithics is the only commercial solution for through internal and external inspection of produce, providing industrial throughput on an unlimited number of products and inspection features.
Neolithics' technology is based on proprietary top-notch hyperspectral optics and vision AI frameworks, that systematically process multiple products, with an ever-growing data-driven approach to analyze all nutritional and commercial aspects of fresh goods. The technology seamlessly integrates with existing or custom automation and conveyance equipment in grocery distribution centers.
Neolithics’ product is empowering major retailers with best quality control and inventory management practices, improving operational efficiency, inventory depreciation rates, and overall retail value. Our systems process quality control for thousands of tons of gross produce every day.
Furthermore, Neolithics is working with multiple supply chain stakeholders such as producers and wholesalers, and most importantly with retailers and grocery ecommerce operations, to provide a highly competitive service to end consumers in aspects of food safety and quality. The underlying Neolithics goal is to maximize produce value and minimize food waste across the entire grocery supply chain.
Supporting links and documents:
https://youtu.be/mb3Qofd-L3k
https://youtu.be/5FWCbIJFP88
Contact details:
contat@neolihics.ai
Name of the organisation/ institution: Ogilvy Consulting
Country of HQ: UK
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): Global
Website address: https://www.ogilvy.com/uk/
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Brief description of the focus of work in reducing food loss and waste (e.g. research, measurement, policy development, advocacy, etc.).
Ogilvy Consulting’s Behavioural Science Practice sit at the intersection between marketing, psychology and innovation. Our aim is to utilise psychological insights and the power of creativity to create positive behaviour change for consumers. To do this, we first conduct behavioural research to understand what’s really stopping or driving the desired behaviour. Using this understanding, we design psychologically-informed solutions that impact behaviour in the real world. Finally, we test what works and what doesn’t, enabling solutions to be launched at scale and reducing consumer food loss & waste as effectively as possible.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Overview of the practical solutions that have been developed and applied (or being applied) to prevent and reduce food loss and waste.
From experience design to product design, organisational change to behaviour change campaigns, Jordan and his team work with many of the world's leading brands and organisations – solving challenges that take the form of ‘How can we get X to do Y’. In his talk Jordan will explore 3 specific FLW challenges, and associated applied solutions that Ogilvy have created in partnership with WRAP:
1) How to get consumers to use up their food before it goes out of date?
The date labels currently printed on foods aren’t the most intuitive. What if we could optimize
the information so that it’s easier for people to act on in time? Our solution was putting the
day itself onto the date label. Effective across both implicit and explicit testing, this is
currently going live with a major retailer in the UK.
Key learning: Reduce friction as much as possible.
2) How to get consumers to freeze their bread rather than letting it go stale?
An estimated 44% of all bread is thrown away because people don’t get around to using it in
time. What if we could encourage people to freeze the last slices before they go stale? We
created innovative packaging that encourages citizens to freeze their bread, with different
concepts based on specific behavioural science principles. Through testing, these have been
iterated and honed to make them as impactful as possible on real-world behaviour.
Key learning: Concept test, then real-world test.
3) How to make freezing and defrosting meat the default?
To break the cycle of buying fresh and forgetting about what we’ve frozen, we need people to
‘think freezer’ at the right moment. Our solution is a new first step that is added to
meat-based recipes, encouraging consumers to use frozen meat.
Key learning: Change the default wherever possible.
Supporting links and documents:
Contact details: jordan.buck@ogilvy.com , linkedin.com/in/jordan-buck/
Name of the organisation/ institution: Rabobank
Country of HQ: Netherlands
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): Global
Website address: www.rabobank.com
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Rabobank is a cooperative bank with a mission. Together with our stakeholders, we have been
dedicated to creating a future-proof society and tackling major societal challenges, such as
the food transition, for over 125 years. In the Netherlands, we serve retail and corporate
clients; globally we focus on the food and agriculture sector.
Our global food systems are not future-proof. Although more and more initiatives are being
launched to turn the tide, the way we produce and consume food is still, for the most part,
not fair, sustainable or healthy. Rabobank is one of the parties working on concrete
solutions to help transform current food systems.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
With the world’s population growing from seven to nine billion people by 2050, the looming question is how to feed everyone. According to Rabobank, one of the many answers lies in reducing food loss & waste. Rabobank is committed to combat food loss & waste, specifically targeted by the SDG 12.3.
One of the ways we do this, is by providing capital to clients that have specific food loss & waste reduction targets. We invest in promising companies that help fight food loss & waste and furthermore we organize the Food Waste Challenge to help Horeca in the Netherlands become more aware and feel empowered to act on food loss & waste reduction. Also in emerging markets we are working on several initiatives to reduce food losses, e.g. through the use of cold chain in Africa or by setting up a blended finance facility in India.
Supporting links and documents: www.rabobank.com
Contact details: www.rabobank.com
Name of the organisation/ institution: Tetra Pak
Country of HQ: Switzerland
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): Global
Website address: www.tetrapak.com
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
As a global leader in food
processing and packaging, Tetra Pak contributes to strengthening the world’s food systems
through its expertise, technology, and partnerships with stakeholders across the food value
chain.
Tetra Pak provides food processing and packaging solutions that make a significant contribution
to food system resilience. At the food processing stage, technologies and equipment enable food
manufacturers to reduce food loss and spillage during production and increase circularity of
food through upcycling side-streams. High-performance packaging protects food and extends its
shelf-life, helping to prevent food waste at the retail and consumption stages.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Tetra Pak’s
contribution to the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste focuses on the food
processing and packaging stages of production.
Increasing efficiency to reduce food loss and turning food loss into new products
Advanced technology and equipment contribute to more food being processed and
packaged instead of being discarded and can enable more efficient use of raw materials.
Concrete solutions include optimised equipment as well as solutions to reduce waste and upcycle side-streams from food production into new food and ingredients. For example:
Modern automation systems also enable food and beverage manufacturers to take actions where food loss occurs during the manufacturing process.
Protecting food and improving shelf life to decrease food waste
Packaging
ensures food safety and protection from damage and potentially harmful bacteria.
Aseptic technology, combining the use of processing solutions with shelf-stable packaging, allows perishable food and beverages to be kept safe for at least 6 months.
Aseptic cartons extend shelf-life, ease storage and distribution of food, whilst maintaining colour, texture, taste and nutritional value, without the need for refrigeration. All of which can help reduce food waste.
Combining the right sizing and portions with the right closure helps enable consumers to keep their food for longer and avoid spillages.
Supporting links and documents:
Moving-food-forward-Tetra-Pak1.pdf (tetrapak.com)
Preventing food loss and waste. | Tetra Pak
Contact details:
Ferruh Gurtas
Director Public Affairs & Government
Relations APAC, GME & Africa
Ferruh.Gurtas@tetrapak.com
Katie Carson
Director Corporate Affairs Food & Climate Policy
Katie.Carson@tetrapak.com
Name of the organisation/ institution: The European Food Information Council
Country of HQ: Belgium
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): Europe
Website address: www.eufic.org
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
EUFIC has launched social
media food waste awareness campaigns in 2021 and 2022. We have also conducted
consumer research on how to: a) best communicate to consumers to encourage them
to reduce food waste (2018), b) what consumers think of supermarket food waste initiatives
(2022), and c) how to design effective information-based food waste campaigns, for which we
developed a training webinar and how-to-guide toolkit for stakeholders
(2022). EUFIC is also compiling a database of consumer-facing supermarket
initiatives on food waste reduction in the context of the EIT Food project “SUCCESS: Supermarkets and consumers collaborate to make
sustainable consumption easy”.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
EUFIC has implemented
the following solutions
Supporting links and documents:
Contact details:
Betty.Chang@eufic.org
Name of the organisation/ institution: Too Good To Go
Country of HQ: Denmark
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): Global
Website address: https://toogoodtogo.org/en
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Too Good To Go is a social
impact company whose mission is to empower and inspire everybody to fight food waste together.
We empower through a simple tool allowing everybody to fight food waste daily: our app functions as marketplace for surplus food, where everybody can rescue Magic Bags of unsold food at discounted price, to avoid that it goes to waste.
We inspire by raising awareness about the disastrous environmental, social and economic consequences of food waste, through different campaigns and initiatives seeking to achieve behaviour change with consumers and households, and policy changes with businesses and policymakers.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Our app to allow
consumers to rescue Magic Bags of surplus food at reduced price, is currently active in 17
countries (15 in Europe + US & Canada). So far, we have rescued 165 million Magic Bags of
unsold food, which is equivalent to 413078 tons of CO2e avoided. We have 65m registered users of
our app, and over 124000 stores save food on our app, from local bakeries and lunch places to
large hotels and retailers.
Too Good To Go’s ambition to inspire everybody on the issue of food waste aims to help generate a paradigm shift in society when it comes to food, and work towards a newfound respect for food. To achieve that, we have initiated various campaigns and projects.
Supporting links and documents:
TGTG Impact Report: https://toogoodtogo.org/en/download/impactreport2021
Country
Date Labelling Campaign websites
Switzerland - DE
Switzerland - FR
Contact details: Christophe Diercxsens, Global Public Affairs Director, cdiercxsens@toogoodtogo.com
Name of the organisation/ institution: Wageningen University & Research
Country of HQ: the Netherlands
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global): Netherlands, Europe, worldwide
Website address: https://www.wur.nl/en/research-results/research-institutes/food-biobased-research/research-themes/food-waste.htm
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) works with companies, governments and institutions to develop impactful strategies, innovations and solutions to prevent loss and waste and make optimum use of food resources in our food system. We work on the entire food supply chain, where the logistical structure, postharvest technology and product quality play a major role. Food processing technology, longer shelf life, IT, AI and smart sensors offer opportunities to optimise the chain, to design it more, sustainable, circular and resilient. In addition, our behavioural science expertise is also relevant for bringing about a sustainable change in consumer behaviour.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
WUR advocates for systematic solutions, where we prevent the shifting of waste in the chain, as well as negative side effects (trade-offs). Thanks to a wide range of expertise, science based FLW data, models and protocols and an excellent track record, we are able to support our partners along the entire food supply chain and at all stages of a process.
WUR has been a leading force in Europe on food loss & waste prevention and coordinated the successful EU projects FUSIONS (www.eu-fusions.org ) and REFRESH (www.eu-refresh.org ). They founded and lead the Dutch Food Waste Free United Foundation with over 100 stakeholders working closely together to deliver SDG 12.3 and reduce food loss and waste in the Netherlands by 50% in 2030 (www.samentegenvoedselverspilling.nl ).
Snapshot of recent publication:
Supporting links and documents:
Contact details: sanne.stroosnijder@wur.nl and linkedin.com/in/sannestroosnijder
Name of the organisation/ institution: Wageningen University, Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group
Country of HQ: the Netherlands
Geographical scope (e.g. Country/ies, EU, non-EU Europe, Central Asia, Global):
Website address: https://www.wur.nl/en/research-results/chair-groups/social-sciences/marketing-and-consumer-behaviour-group.htm
Expertise and area/s of work (up to 100 words):
The Marketing and Consumer Behaviour group (MCB) of Wageningen University carries out research focusing on marketing (management) and consumer behaviour issues related to food and agribusiness, and institutions interested in food and agriculture. We teach in various education programmes.
Solutions to FLW and key milestones (up to 300 words):
Research of our group covers various aspects of food losses and waste. Publications related to FLW solutions include:
Cooking from meal boxes:
Schuster et al. (2022). Do meal boxes reduce food waste from households? Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134001
Promoting doggy bags:
van Herpen et al. (2021). Take it or leave it: How an opt-out strategy for doggy bags affects consumer food waste behavior and restaurant evaluations. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129199
Using authenticity to promote suboptimal foods:
Van Giesen & de Hooge (2019). Too ugly, but I love its shape: Reducing food waste of suboptimal products with authenticity (and sustainability) positioning. Food Quality and Preference. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2019.02.020
Initiatives in supply chain / retailing:
Van Herpen & Jaegers (2022). Less waste versus higher quality: how to stimulate consumer demand for frozen bread. British Food Journal https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-02-2022-0165
Aschemann-Witzel et al. (2017). Key characteristics and success factors of supply chain
initiatives
tackling consumer-related food waste–A multiple case study. Journal of cleaner production
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.11.173
de Hooge et al. (2018). Cosmetic specifications in the food waste issue: Supply chain
considerations and
practices concerning suboptimal food products. Journal of Cleaner Production.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.132
Surprising effects of multibuys:
van Lin et al. (2020). Does cash really mean trash? An empirical investigation into the effect of retailer price promotions on household food waste. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3653259
Drivers of household food waste:
van Geffen et al. (2020). Food waste as the consequence of competing motivations, lack of
opportunities,
and insufficient abilities. Resources, Conservation & Recycling: X.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcrx.2019.100026
Stefan et al. (2013). Avoiding food waste by Romanian consumers: The importance of planning and
shopping
routines. Food quality and preference
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2012.11.001
Effects of wasting on brand attitudes:
van Herpen & De Hooge (2019). When product attitudes go to waste: Wasting products with remaining utility decreases consumers' product attitudes. Journal of Cleaner Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.331
Supporting links and documents:
Household food waste questionnaire
Photographs
Waste sorting
Contact details:
Web: https://www.wur.nl/en/Persons/Erica-dr.-HWI-Erica-van-Herpen.htm
Name of the organisation/ institution: World Resources Institute
Country of HQ: Washington DC
Geographical scope: Global, with European Presence in London, Hague and Istanbul
Website address: https://www.wri.org/
The behavioral science of food waste, including a focus on food waste prevention along the squander sequence using techniques the target consumer motivation as well as ‘nudges’ to change habitual action. Work from our team includes a large consumer household trial in the US and two large European-based social media studies (40 million users) to explore the role of social norms in influencing food waste prevention.
Our team focusses on understanding the behavioral drivers of food waste, with a focus on prevention (upstream) rather than management (downstream) of this complex issue. We draw on the ‘Motivation, Opportunity, Ability’ behavioral driver framework and have, to date, explored the role of social norms messaging – a proven behavior change technique across many other sustainable behaviors – in promoting the food waste reduction efforts as normal and socially desirable behaviors. This research found that norms messaging significantly shifted a range of contributory behaviors that lead to reductions in food waste in the home.
Our forthcoming work includes a consumer guide mapping a wide range of behavior change example case studies that have proven effective in tackling food waste across contexts and actors, with plans to develop a comprehensive behavior change map for household food waste prevention.
Dr. Sophie Attwood
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