Capitalising on COVID-19 as a Trigger for Positive Change in Food Waste Behaviour

The COVID-19 lockdown has been a big contextual change in people's daily lives. However, it has resulted in positive changes in food waste-related behaviours as indicated in the reports of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and UK media (WRAP 2020a; Guardian, 2020). For example, UK consumers reported an increased awareness and willingness to minimise household food waste leading to a 34% reduction in food waste across 4 key products (bread, milk, potatoes, and chicken) compared to the average across 2018-2019. While the changes seen during the COVID-19 lockdown are promising, behaviour change resulting from temporary contextual changes may not last long (Fuji et al., 2009). We argue therefore that there is a need to run interventions that build on the current momentum to support long-term behaviour change. Considering existing research on consumer food waste behaviour under lockdown, our study is unique and adds value by targeting the need to support positive behaviour change with rigorously evaluated interventions. Our project will (1) identify the factors that have affected food waste behaviours under lockdown, (2) develop, implement and systematically evaluate interventions to support positive behaviour change, and (3) use our partnerships with WRAP and Zero Waste Scotland to disseminate the outcomes across the UK. The outcomes of the project will have positive economic impact on UK consumers' cost savings in relation to their food shopping, as well as environmental impact on the amount of resources and inputs required and greenhouse gas emissions generated, by not producing food that becomes waste.