Research of Food Waste Reduction Using a Cloud-Based Automatic Weighing System: Effectiveness of Interventions Using Five Support Tools in Reducing Household Food Waste

Abstract

Food waste is a global issue, and in Japan, about half of food loss is generated by households. In this research, a cloud-based automatic weighing system was used to measure the amount of food waste at home. The research was conducted during 5 weeks among 29 households, which have two or more family members, in 20s to 70s age groups. 23 households were assigned to the intervention group, and the remaining 6 households were assigned to the control group. We asked all participants to separate food waste and put them into a dedicated waste bin, and during the intervention period, we used five supporting tools to support food waste prevention in "procurement," "storage," and "management” by targeting food in the refrigerator at home. Food waste was reduced by an average of 213 g in the intervention group in the two-week period before and after the intervention, with no rebound occurring in the follow-up period (5th week) after three months from the intervention period. Analysis by two-way mixed ANOVA showed that the interaction was significant using a 10% level of significance, suggesting an effect of the intervention. However, differences were more apparent in the follow-up period than in the intervention period.