Influence of Knowledge, Motivations and Behaviors on Consumer Food Waste—Results from a Survey in Portugal

The aim of this study is to understand the influence of knowledge, motivations and behaviors on food wasted by households in Portugal and to provide suggestions for a communication strategy to raise awareness to this issue and promote food waste reductions. Data was collected through a survey made available online and distributed using the snowball sampling technique yielding a final sample of 376 answers. Three hypotheses were formulated to test the correlation of the amount of food wasted with knowledge about the impacts of food waste, and motivations and behaviors to reduce food waste. The results show that the amount of food wasted is not significantly correlated with knowledge but is moderately correlated with motivations and behaviors. Most respondents have already adopted behaviors to reduce food waste to some extent. However, weekly planning and the use of the freezer can be further incentivized. Motivations to reduce food waste include social, financial and environmental concerns, by this order, and the majority of respondents feels guilty when wasting food. Communication strategies may be more effective if they focus on promoting anti-food waste behaviors, involve all stakeholders of the food supply chain and provide positive messages instead of guilty feelings. The results apply to a segment of the population living in Portugal characterized by having a university degree, no children in the household and living mostly in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Further research is needed to segment consumers according to their socio-demographic characteristics, motivations, and behaviors regarding food waste to enable the design of tailored communication strategies.