Human Environments Analysis Lab (HEAL)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2019
Journal
The Canadian Geographer
Volume
63
Issue
3
First Page
478
Last Page
493
URL with Digital Object Identifier
https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12519
Abstract
To better understand food wasting behaviour, the theory of planned behaviour was used to inform the development of a survey which was administered to households in London, Ontario, Canada. Respondent households (n ¼ 1,263) threw out avoidable food waste 4.77 times/week (SD ¼ 4.81, Mdn ¼ 4.0) and 5.89 food portions/week (SD ¼ 5.66, Mdn ¼ 4.0). When asked to choose one of three possible motivators to reduce food wasting behaviour, 58.9% selected reducing monetary loss as their first choice and this was significantly (p < 0.001) higher than both reducing environmental impact (23.9%) and reducing social impacts (17.2%). A linear hierarchical regression analysis (R2¼ 0.30, p < 0.001) on intention to avoid food waste demonstrated that perceived behavioural control (p < 0.001) and personal norms (p < 0.001) had the greatest positive impact on intention. A linear hierarchical regression analysis (R2¼ 0.32, p < 0.001) on self-reported food wasting behaviour showed that perceived behavioural control (p < 0.001) and personal attitudes (p < 0.01) resulted in less food wasting behaviour, while more children in a household (p < 0.01) resulted in more food wasting behaviour. Interventions that seek to strengthen perceived behavioural control and convey the monetary impact of food waste could help reduce its disposal.
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Notes
Also available open access in The Canadian Geographer at https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12519