Reduction of Domestic Waste through Material Flow in a Household and its Contribution to Consumer Education

Abstract

This paper focuses on the reduction of domestic waste through an inquiry into the amount of kitchen garbage and domestic practices in terms of material flow in households. Households were divided into two groups: a consumption-conscious group and a purchase-conscious group. The two week investigation showed that the reduction rate of garbage of the consumption-conscious group was higher than the purchase-conscious group. We classified the practices of the former group into our categories: keeping, cooking, eating, and disposing. The most frequently employed practices were in disposing, while the reduction rates of households with the practices of the keeping category were the highest. The results suggest that consumer education for consumption regarding practices for keeping food is more fruitful than the usual education regarding purchasing in order to reduce garbage. Based on the above findings, we developed a tool for consumer education to reduce waste.