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Of Waste and Waists: The Effect of Plate Material on Food Consumption and Waste

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  • Sara Williamson
  • Lauren G. Block
  • Punam A. Keller

Abstract

Two lab studies and three field studies indicate that plate disposability influences the amount of food wasted. The first lab study indicates that more food served on disposable (i.e., paper) plates is wasted than when the same food is served on permanent (i.e., hard plastic) plates. Study 2 employs an implicit association test (IAT) to confirm that disposable plates are strongly associated with behavior to stop eating while, simultaneously, permanent plates are more strongly associated with a keep eating behavior. Three field studies (3A, 3B, and 3C) indicate that this effect maintains when instead of being served a fixed quantity of food, participants select the amount and type of food.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara Williamson & Lauren G. Block & Punam A. Keller, 2016. "Of Waste and Waists: The Effect of Plate Material on Food Consumption and Waste," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 147-160.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jacres:doi:10.1086/684287
    DOI: 10.1086/684287
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    Cited by:

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    11. Qi, Danyi & Li, Ran & Penn, Jerrod & Houghtaling, Bailey & Prinyawiwatkul, Witoon & Roe, Brian E., 2022. "Nudging greater vegetable intake and less food waste: A field experiment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
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    16. Courtney Szocs & Dipayan Biswas, 2016. "Forks over Spoons: The Impact of Cutlery on Calorie Estimates," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 161-174.
    17. Ilyuk, Veronika, 2018. "Like throwing a piece of me away: How online and in-store grocery purchase channels affect consumers’ food waste," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 20-30.
    18. Choi, Kang Jun & Jia, He Michael & Lee, Jae Young & Kim, B. Kyu & Kim, Keunwoo, 2022. "Hedonic myopia: Emphasizing hedonic benefits of non-perishable food makes consumers insensitive to expiration dates in food purchase," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 193-202.
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