Food Waste and Food Retail Density

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between food retail density and municipal solid waste. We test for correlations between the volume of solid waste and the number of food-at-home retailers (e.g., grocery stores) and food-away-from-home retailers (e.g., restaurants) at the county level in the state of Mississippi over 2007–2012. Since food scraps comprise the largest share of post-recycling municipal solid waste in the United States, we control for the overall level of economic activity to account for other sources of solid waste, as well as demographic factors, county, and time effects. We find that increases in food-at-home retailer density are negatively correlated with solid waste volume. Conversely, we find that increases in the number of food-away-from-home retailers lead to more waste. While we do not explicitly investigate the mechanisms, we discuss possible avenues such as increased food access in the case of food at home, and increased portion sizes and substitutability in the case of food away from home.     

The carbon‐conscious‐consumer? A causal model for the product carbon footprint of asparagus at the consumer stage

Tools to measure climate impacts, such as a product carbon footprinting (PCF), have gained increasing attention in recent years. Our study shows that it is possible to develop a valid structural equation model for a PCF for the example of the use phase of asparagus on the basis of empirical data generated by a panel survey. The parameters considered in the model are environmental and sustainability‐related attitudes, sociodemographics and a technical component. The results show that the age of the technical component has effect on the PCF, an older technical component having an increasing impact, while a high degree of environmental concern has a decreasing effect.     

Do discounted food products end up in the bin? An investigation into the link between deal‐prone shopping behaviour and quantities of household food waste

Household food waste is considered to be the largest share of food waste along the food supply chain. Given that its recoverability is also more challenging compared to food waste in other stages of the chain, most studies on household food waste adopt a pre‐emptive approach by aiming to identify and address consumer beliefs, attitudes and actions that are linked to food waste. In scientific literature, household food waste has often been studied in relation to the habit of purchasing discounted food products (DFP). However, findings have been contradictory. Specifically, while some authors found that deal‐prone consumers are usually of lower income and therefore display a wiser and more attentive attitude towards grocery shopping, other authors reported that the purchase of discounted products was usually linked to compulsive shopping, hence resulting in higher food waste quantities at home. Due to these discrepant findings, a definitive answer on the impact of DFP on household food waste does not currently exist in the literature. This paper analyses the correlation between the purchase of DFP and weekly household food waste quantities. To do so, we examine (a) the results of a food waste diary experiment carried out on a representative sample of 385 households in Italy in February 2017, and (b) the results of a 23‐items Computer Assisted Web Interview survey administered to the same householders, in which shopping habits were investigated. Results revealed no evidence of either a positive or negative relationship between the purchase of DFP and household food waste quantities. Frequency of grocery shopping was the only variable found to have a significant impact on household food waste quantities.     

城市可持续发展思路下废旧家电回收模式探讨

随着国家对城市废旧家电所带来的经济问题和社会问题的普遍关注,废旧家电回收问题成为非常值得研究的重要课题。应用城市可持续发展理论,从企业和政府两个层面提出我国城市管理废旧家电回收问题的思路和对策,以期为我国解决废旧家电给城市发展所带来的环境和资源问题提供合理化建议。     

Critical consumer issues in St. Lucia: an examination of consumer challenges and related learning among rural adults according to income levels

Consumer education is a relatively new and growing interest in St. Lucia. Neither the government nor the National Consumer Association has established a consumer education programme to address the growing consumer concerns in the country. The purpose of this study was to examine critical consumer issues, related learning challenges and strategies among rural adults in St. Lucia according to income levels. Rural adult consumers are most disadvantaged in terms of levels of education, income and access to resources, which may help to prevent and mediate consumer concerns. The specific research questions examined were: (1) What is the nature of problems experienced by rural St. Lucian adult consumers in the marketplace? (2) How do rural St. Lucian adult consumers solve the challenges they encounter in the marketplace? (3) What is it like for rural St. Lucian adult consumers as they go about trying to learn to solve the consumer issues they face? and (4) What do rural St. Lucian adult consumers perceive to be the requisites for effective decision making in the marketplace? Data were collected using a questionnaire comprising of 29 questions divided into four sections (problems, strategies, solving consumer problems and making effective decisions) and two biographical questions. A total of 500 rural adult consumers were surveyed verbally through door‐to‐door contact. The findings of this study revealed that middle‐income rural adult consumers experience more problems in the marketplace than those with each lower or higher level of income. Middle‐income rural adult St. Lucian consumers in particular seek more information and are comfortable with using more strategies than the lower‐ and higher‐income rural adult consumers. This research gives us a better understanding of the problems faced by rural adult consumers based on their income. Research results will be useful to the government of St. Lucia and the National Consumer Association when they decide to establish an adult consumer education programme for St. Lucia.     

Reorienting consumer education using social learning theory: sustainable development via authentic consumer pedagogy

The paper illustrates the growing interest in understanding consumer behaviour through a social learning theory (SLT) lens, and explains the recently launched United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Then, the discussion turns to an overview of a recently developed ESD/SLT integrated theoretical framework, which is then applied to consumer education via an authentic pedagogy. The paper highlights the rich potential of authentic intellectual work in the form of observational learning by augmenting ESD within authentic consumer education curricula.