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Less Food Wasted? Changes to New Zealanders’ Household Food Waste and Related Behaviours Due to the 2020 COVID-19 Lockdown

Author

Listed:
  • Emma L. Sharp

    (Te Kura Mātai Taiao/School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand)

  • Jillian Haszard

    (Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand)

  • Victoria Egli

    (School of Nursing, University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand)

  • Rajshri Roy

    (Discipline of Nutrition, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand)

  • Lisa Te Morenga

    (Centre for Hauora and Health, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand)

  • Lauranna Teunissen

    (Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium)

  • Paulien Decorte

    (Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium)

  • Isabelle Cuykx

    (Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium)

  • Charlotte De Backer

    (Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium)

  • Sarah Gerritsen

    (School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand)

Abstract

Food waste is a crisis of our time, yet it remains a data gap in Aotearoa New Zealand’s (NZ’s) environmental reporting. This research contributes to threshold values on NZ’s food waste and seeks to understand the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown on household food waste in NZ. The data presented here form part of the ‘Covid Kai Survey’, an online questionnaire that assessed cooking and food planning behaviours during the 2020 lockdown and retrospectively before lockdown. Of the 3028 respondents, 62.5% threw out food ‘never’/‘rarely’ before lockdown, and this number increased to 79.0% during lockdown. Participants who wasted food less frequently during lockdown were more likely to be older, work less than full-time, and have no children. During lockdown, 30% and 29% of those who ‘frequently’ or ‘sometimes’ struggled to have money for food threw out food ‘sometimes or more’; compared with 20% of those who rarely struggled to have money for food ( p < 0.001). We found that lower levels of food waste correlated with higher levels of cooking confidence ( p < 0.001), perceived time ( p < 0.001), and meal planning behaviours ( p < 0.001). Understanding why food waste was generally considerably lower during lockdown may inform future initiatives to reduce food waste, considering socio-economic and demographic disparities.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma L. Sharp & Jillian Haszard & Victoria Egli & Rajshri Roy & Lisa Te Morenga & Lauranna Teunissen & Paulien Decorte & Isabelle Cuykx & Charlotte De Backer & Sarah Gerritsen, 2021. "Less Food Wasted? Changes to New Zealanders’ Household Food Waste and Related Behaviours Due to the 2020 COVID-19 Lockdown," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:18:p:10006-:d:630383
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Giulia Borghesi & Piergiuseppe Morone, 2023. "A review of the effects of COVID-19 on food waste," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(1), pages 261-280, February.
    2. Aino Friman & Nina Hyytiä, 2022. "The Economic and Welfare Effects of Food Waste Reduction on a Food-Production-Driven Rural Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Haley Everitt & Paul van der Werf & Jason A. Gilliland, 2023. "A Review of Household Food Waste Generation during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Zheng, Qiujie & Gao, Zhifeng & Berry, Kevin, 2023. "Factors affecting household food waste behavior during COVID-19: Shopping behavior, cooking behavior, food security, and household characteristics," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335672, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

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