It is widely acknowledged that environmental impacts from packaging waste depend on how consumers sort this waste fraction. In this research, “design for sustainable behavior” (DfSB) strategies are used to improve a cream packaging design that can support proper sorting of packaging waste as a sustainable behavior. The application of three DfSB strategies—“match”, “steer”, and “force”—was examined through circular interviews and practical experience with two groups of participants in Karlskrona, Sweden. Prototyping was used to provide a more realistic experiment and enhance communication during the interviews. The results show that consumer-packaging interaction during the usage phase is important to enhance proper sorting behavior. The results also show the potential of a user-centered design-based approach to study consumer-packaging interaction and to understand the challenges faced by users when sorting packaging waste. It also shows the possibility of packaging design to script consumer behavior and reveals details that are important when designing packaging that was not known. In this vein, packaging form, color, and haptic attributes are the most influential design attributes that can support packaging functionalities and script consumer sorting behavior.

Introduction: Crowdsourcing is an emerging technique to engage or access a wider set of experts and multiple stakeholders through online platforms, which might effectively be employed in waste management. Therefore, we assessed the feasibility of the crowdsourcing method to provide an alternative approach that can improve household waste segregation using an “online-slogan-contest”.

Methods: The contest was promoted via targeted emails to various governmental and non-governmental organizations and through social media platforms for around 4 weeks (25 days). The entries were received through a Google form. The slogans were assessed by the experts and analyzed using content analysis methods.

Results: Total 969 entries were received from different geographic regions in India. Of that, 456 were in English and 513 in Hindi. Five themes of waste segregation emerged from the received slogans: (1) Community awareness, responsibility, and support, (2) Significance of household waste segregation, (3) Use of separate dustbins, (4) Health and well-being, and (5) Environment and sustainability.

Discussion: Crowdsourcing approaches can be used by local authorities for improving waste management approaches and are recommended as these involve a wider audience within a short time frame. Moreover, this approach is flexible and integrating crowdsourcing approaches strengthens our understanding of existing waste management activities.

This study investigates people's preferences for nutritional, environmental and food safety characteristics of upcycled foods according to their age group and assesses the association between age and the importance of these characteristics in a Swedish population. A food choice questionnaire was used for data collection, and 681 Swedish residents aged ≥18 years participated in this study. In young, middle-aged and older adults, environmental (environmentally friendly preparation and packaging, local production and contribution to food waste reduction) and food safety (absence of additives, chemicals, genetically modified ingredients and contamination) characteristics of upcycled foods were more important than most nutritional characteristics (low energy and fat content and high fibre and protein content). There was a positive association between age and the importance score of nutritional characteristics, such as rich in vitamins and minerals, low energy and fat content and minimal food processing (P-value < 0.05). A negative association was observed between age and the importance score of contribution to food waste reduction (P-value = 0.014). There was a positive association between age and the importance score of food safety characteristics, such as the absence of additives, chemicals and genetically modified ingredients (P-value < 0.05). Therefore, the environmental benefits and food safety aspects of upcycled foods can be considered for product development and marketing to facilitate the acceptability of these foods in all age groups. Since the nutritional attributes of upcycled foods were less important than their environmental and food safety characteristics, strategies should be introduced to educate people regarding desirable nutritional features to enable them to choose healthy upcycled foods. 

Purpose

This study investigates factors motivating upcycled food choices and assesses the association between these factors and hesitancy towards upcycled food consumption in a Swedish population.

Design/methodology/approach

An online food choice questionnaire was used. Participants (n = 682) were categorised into Inclined and Hesitant groups based on their intention to consume upcycled foods. The factors motivating upcycled food choices were identified using explanatory factor analyses. Independent t-tests assessed the differences in the mean importance score of factors between the two groups. The association between upcycled food choice factors and hesitancy towards consumption was evaluated by logistic regressions (adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics).

Findings

The most important upcycled food choice factor in both groups was ethical concerns, followed by natural content, sensory appeal, price, healthiness, familiarity and impression. The Inclined group's mean importance score for ethical concern was higher than the Hesitant group (p(value)<0.001) and, except for natural content, the mean importance scores for the other factors were higher in the Hesitant group compared to the Inclined group (p(value)<0.05). Participants who perceived ethical concern as an important factor had lower odds of hesitancy (Odds ratio = 0.39; 95%CI:0.26,0.59; p(value)<0.001), and those who considered sensory appeal an important factor had higher odds of hesitancy (Odds ratio = 2.42; 95%CI:1.62,3.63; p(value)<0.001) towards upcycled food consumption compared to participants who did not consider these as important factors.

Originality/value

This is the first study investigating health and non-health-related upcycled food choice motives using a food choice questionnaire. Identifying these motives helps food developers and researchers determine factors influencing upcycled food consumption.

Oyster mushroom (OM) cultivation generates residue that needs to be managed; otherwise, it will be converted into waste. One of the substrates for OM cultivation is the food industry by-product, e.g., a mixture of the brewer’s spent grain (BSG) and wheat bran. This study assesses the OM cultivation residue’s physical and nutritional characteristics as a potential upcycled food ingredient and also considers developing bread from this cultivation residue. The OM was cultivated in a mixture of 55% BSG and 45% wheat bran. After the OM harvest, the cultivation residue (mixture of BSG, wheat bran and mycelium) had a lighter colour and a pleasant aroma compared to the initial substrate. It contained protein (10.8%) and had high niacin (42.4 mg/100 g), fibre (59.2%) and beta-glucan (6.6%). Thiamine, riboflavin and pyridoxine were also present in the cultivation residue. The bread was developed from 50% cultivation residue and 50% wheat flour, and its scores for darkness, dryness, sponginess, sour taste, bitter aftertaste, and aromatic aroma differed from white bread (p-value < 0.05). However, its overall acceptability and liking scores were not significantly different from white bread (p-value > 0.05). Therefore, this OM cultivation residue can be used as a nutritious ingredient; nevertheless, product development should be further explored.

Fungi-based food is expected to contribute to more sustainable food systems. The present study has three focus areas: (i) aspects that affect food choices food in daily life, (ii) aspects that affect choices of fungi-based food in particular, and (iii) drivers that motivate, and barriers that prevent, engagement in cultivating fungi and cooking fungi-based food at home. One hundred and sixty participants, who were recruited using convenience sampling, filled out qualitative questionnaires. The results show that there are numerous aspects (e.g., environmental benefits, nutrition, sensory characteristics, production practices and ingredients) that are important when people choose food in daily life. In addition to curiosity, many of these aspects also affect the choice of fungi-based food. The study identified more drivers (e.g., self-providing, curiosity, awareness of ingredients) than barriers (time, knowledge, concerns about contamination) to cultivation and cooking of fungi-based food at home. The findings are relevant for the development of fungi-based food so that this type of food is engaged with, and so that it can contribute to more sustainable food systems.

Providing food security to the growing global population, and the resource depletion associated with current food systems, let to calls for more sustainable food sources. Food that can be produced in a sustainable way (taking all three aspects of sustainable development into consideration) is currently emerging in Western societies. Through tastings, insight can be gathered not only into sensory characteristics but also other aspects that aid innovation and development of food. The current study identified aspects that can affect tastings of emerging food by reviewing relevant literature. General aspects; meat alternatives; ingredients or processing technologies; information, prior knowledge and (un)familiarity; taste and liking; emotional factors; and willingness to engage with emerging food can affect tastings of emerging food. Awareness of the effect that these aspects can have on methodological considerations and results can be constructive in future research that use tastings as a platform to develop new and emerging food. The findings are significant for food science in terms of cornerstones towards potential industrial applications. These include innovating new types of food, assessing most effective technologies in the context of such food, developing new products, and understanding engagement with emerging food products.

Current understanding of food waste quantities in the Brazilian retail sector is limited. In order to develop efficient measures for food waste prevention and valorisation, reliable data on waste generation and composition are necessary. In this study, a compositional analysis of street market waste was conducted in São Paulo, Brazil. In total, 4.1 tonnes of waste were sorted into 27 waste fractions, categorised using a three-level approach. The average waste generation in the studied street markets was 23.7 kg per stall, of which 12.8 kg was classified as unavoidable food waste, 3.6 kg as packaging waste, and 7.4 kg as avoidable waste. The results show large amounts of unavoidable food waste, comprised of coconut, sugarcane bagasse, and peels. A large share of the avoidable food waste is comprised of single leaves, tomatoes, oranges, and bananas. Large variations were observed among the street markets analysed, both in terms of the food waste generation rate, and composition. The results from scaling up the data at the city level indicated a total wastage of 59,300 tonnes per year, of which 18,400 tonnes are classified as avoidable food waste.

This research aims to understand why consumers miss-sort plastic food packaging and to what extent the design affordance of packaging can influence consumer sorting behavior. A photo-based observation study and semi-structured interviews were used to gain a deeper understanding of the miss-sorting behavior and how it could be affected by design affordance. This explorative study suggested that the packaging form, size, durability, haptic aspects, and visual communicative properties influence how consumers perceive the value of packaging. This is important, because packaging with low attributed values are not considered worth recycling or correctly sorted and are more likely to be miss-sorted. Hence, a well-afforded food packaging design is expected to improve how consumers perceive the value of packaging and to consequently improve sorting behavior.

Waste segregation practices must be socially acceptable, affordable, context-specific, and participatory, which is essential for promoting waste segregation. Therefore, this study explored the urban community members’ motivation, opportunity, and household waste segregation ability. We performed a qualitative study in Ujjain city, India. Ten focus group discussions and eight in-depth interviews were conducted with female and male household members in residential and slum areas. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and translated. We used the thematic framework technique using the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability-Behaviour theory for analysis. Three themes were constructed: motivation, where household members are motivated to sort waste yet fear the consequences of improper sorting; ability, where household waste segregation is rapidly gaining acceptance as a social norm; and opportunities, involving convenient facilities and a social support system for household members towards waste segregation. This study contributes to developing a knowledge base on waste segregation behaviour and a repertoire to facilitate evidence-based management and policymaking. There is a need for educational intervention and women’s self-help groups’ involvement to develop community orientation and waste segregation literacy. Finally, this study emphasizes the importance of all three behavioural change components, i.e., motivation, opportunity, and ability, in managing sustainable waste segregation practices.

Resource dependency of food production is aggravated when food is wasted. In Sweden, it is estimated that 37% of the total bread waste is generated at the household level. This work aimed to assess whether fermentation using edible filamentous fungi at households can provide a solution to valorize leftover bread in the production of fungi-based food for consumption. Bread was fermented in household and laboratory conditions with Neurospora intermedia and Rhizopus oligosporus. The results show that bread can be successfully and easily fermented at households, without signs of microbial contamination even though the conditions were not sterile. Fermentation at the household resulted in higher protein, fat and fiber content as well as greater starch reduction compared to the samples fermented under laboratory conditions. Household engagement in bread fermentation will likely depend on values that motivate reusing leftover bread. Perceived values that are expected to motivate engagement vary across individuals, but may include improved nutritional benefits, food waste prevention, convenience, responsibilities, and being part of sustainable societies and actions.

Upcycled foods contain unmarketable ingredients (e.g., damaged food produce, by-products and scraps from food preparation) that otherwise would not be directed for human consumption. Upcycled food is a new food category and thus faces several challenges, such as definition development, inclusion in the food waste management hierarchy and public acceptability. This review provides an overview of these three challenges. The upcycled food definitions have been developed for research, food manufacturers, and multi-stakeholders use. Thus, there is a need for a consumer-friendly definition for the general public. A simplified definition is proposed to introduce these foods as environmentally friendly foods containing safe ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption such as damaged food produce, by-products and scraps from food preparation. Moreover, an updated version of the food waste management hierarchy has been proposed by including the production of upcycled foods as a separate waste management action that is less preferable than redistribution but more favourable than producing animal feed. Furthermore, consumer sociodemographic characteristics and beliefs, as well as food quality cues and attributes, were identified as crucial factors for the public acceptability of these foods. Future research should address these challenges to facilitate the introduction of upcycled foods.

Background: Segregation of household waste at the source is an effective and sustainable strategy for management of municipal waste. However, household segregation levels remain insufficient as waste management approaches are mostly top down and lack local support. The realisation and recognition of effective, improved and adequate waste management may be one of the vital drivers for attaining environmental protection and improved health and well-being. The presence of a local level motivator may promote household waste segregation and ultimately pro-environmental behaviour. The present cluster randomized control trial aims to understand if volunteer based information on waste segregation (I-MISS) can effectively promote increased waste segregation practices at the household level when compared with existing routine waste segregation information in an urban Indian setting.

Methods: This paper describes the protocol of an 18 month two-group parallel,cluster randomised controlled trialin the urban setting of Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. Randomization will be conducted at ward level, which is the last administrative unit of the municipality. The study will recruit 425 households in intervention and control groups. Assessments will be performed at baseline (0 months), midline (6 months), end line (12 months) and post intervention (18 months). The primary outcome will be the comparison of change in proportion of households practicing waste segregation and change in proportion of mis-sorted waste across the study period between the intervention and control groups as assessed by pick analysis. Intention to treat analysis will be conducted. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants.

Discussion: The present study is designed to study whether an external motivator, a volunteer selected from the participating community and empowered with adequate training, could disseminate waste segregation information to their community, thus promoting household waste segregation and ultimately pro-environmental behaviour. The study envisages that the volunteers could link waste management service providers and the community, give a local perspective to waste management, and help to change community habits through information, constant communication and feedback.

Trial registration: The study is registered prospectively with Indian Council of Medical Research- Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI/2020/03/024278). 

New food sources are explored to provide food security in sustainable ways. The submerged fermentation of edible filamentous fungi is a promising strategy to provide nutritious and affordable food that is expected to have a low environmental impact. The aim of the current study was to assess the novel use of Aspergillus oryzae cultivated in submerged fermentation on oat flour as a source for food products that do not undergo secondary fermentation or significant downstream processing. The fungus was cultivated in a pilot-scale airlift bioreactor, and the biomass concentration and protein content of the biomass were assessed. A tasting with an untrained panel assessed consumer preferences regarding the taste and texture of minimally processed vegetarian and vegan burger patties made from the biomass, and how the patties fared against established meat-alternative-based patties. The cultivation of Aspergillus oryzae resulted in a yield of 6 g/L dry biomass with a protein content of 37% on a dry weight basis. The taste and texture of the minimally processed fungal burger patties were to the liking of some participants. This was also reflected in diverse feedback provided by the participants. The cultivation of the fungus on oat flour and its utilization in developing burger patties shows its promising potential for the production of nutritious food. The applications of the fungus can be further developed by exploring other favorable ways to texture and season this relatively new functional food source to the preferences of consumers. 

The current study aims to assess how a novel fungi product made from the filamentous fungus Neurospora intermedia, cultivated on bread residuals, is perceived using questionnaires. Participants were asked to rate characteristic attributes of a fungi burger patty and state their preference when comparing it to Quorn and hamburger patties. The data were analyzed to assess whether gender or age was statistically associated with preference profiles. Neither age nor gender was associated with the preference profiles regarding the comparison of burger patties. Except for age and bitterness, age and gender were also not associated with the preference profiles regarding the sensory characteristics of the fungi burger patty. Most of the participants liked the characteristics of the fungi burger patty. The results indicate that fungi products from waste can become accepted products when information dissemination targets environmental benefits. Moreover, to be commercially accepted, the chewiness and bitterness of the product should be improved. Other improvements should target the overall taste in order to cater to people who prefer meat-based protein sources.

Given the increasing efforts at improving waste management in developing countries, this study aimed to analyze factors that influence participation in household waste sorting. It thereby is the first review that extends the published literature on this topic. A meta-analysis was conducted that analyzed twelve influencing factors. A moderate correlation was found for the most strongly influential factors—attitude, moral norm, subjective norm and perceived behavior control—which indicates that people’s perception of waste sorting is most influencing in prompting participation in household waste sorting in developing countries. The results of this meta-analysis indicate that knowledge, situational factors, such as physical conditions, and governmental incentives can influence participation in household waste sorting in developing countries but the relationship between those factors and other factors with high correlations should be studied further. Notably, socio-demographic factors have the weakest influence on the participation in waste sorting in developing countries despite a large body of research on such factors. It can be constructive to take the relationship across the identified factors and the participation in waste sorting into consideration when aiming to implement measures to increase the participation in waste management schemes through waste sorting. The outcome of this study may contribute to recommendations and policy suggestions regarding the promotion of sustainable waste management through household waste sorting in developing countries.

Several theories and case studies have shown that information has little or no direct influence on waste sorting behavior. However, it is often suggested that information plays a vital role by indirectly influencing behavior. This contribution sheds light on how instructive information influences users of a recycling scheme in terms of perception, knowledge and waste sorting behavior. The study was performed as a case study on a student population in a medium-sized city in Sweden. An intervention in the form of modified information that was provided to the users was studied. This information was instructive in nature and adapted to the participants’ needs using the Recycling Behavior Transition procedure, where the users are involved in the development and modification of recycling schemes. New information was designed after investigating how the participants perceived the original information on correct waste sorting, as well as ascertaining their preferred channel for providing the information. Pick analyses and surveys were conducted before and after providing the user-adapted information. The results indicated a trend towards correct participation in the recycling scheme. These results are also discussed in the theoretical context of the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability-Behavior model. The study shows that user-adapted, instructive information can have a significant influence on people’s knowledge of correct waste separation and their overall perception of information.

The aim of this scoping review was to gain an overview of the current state of the literature on the engagement in waste sorting post migration from an occupational perspective, in the light of two aspects sustainability efforts currently face: Increased human migration and environmental degradation. Both the resource recovery and occupational science literature were reviewed and analyzed. However, despite the current lack on studies on how migrants’ transition into waste sorting schemes at the household level, this scoping review was able to provide a broad picture of the engagement in daily activities that support sustainability, such as household waste sorting. Given the current initiatives to develop efficient resource recovery from waste, such knowledge contributes to efforts to engage households with different cultures and experiences in waste sorting. The results highlight the importance of future research to better understand how people who are new to waste management schemes experience these, and study the way that engagement in waste sorting shifts and transforms. This is because providing such knowledge can contribute to raising awareness of the environmental impact of waste sorting, and inform policies aimed at sustainable waste management.

Retail is an important actor regarding waste throughout the entire food supply chain. Although it produces lower amounts of waste compared to other steps in the food value chain, such as households and agriculture, it has a significant influence on the supply chain, including both suppliers in the upstream processes and consumers in the downstream. The research presented in this contribution analyses the impacts of food waste at a supermarket in Sweden. In addition to shedding light on which waste fractions have the largest environmental impacts and what part of the waste life cycle is responsible for the majority of the impacts, the results provide information to support development of strategies and actions to reduce of the supermarket's environmental footprint. Therefore, the food waste was categorised and quantified over the period of one year, the environmental impacts of waste that were generated regularly and in large amounts were assessed, and alternative waste management practices were suggested. The research revealed the importance of not only measuring the food waste in terms of mass, but also in terms of environmental impacts and economic costs. The results show that meat and bread waste contributes the most to the environmental footprint of the supermarket. Since bread is a large fraction of the food waste for many Swedish supermarkets, this is a key item for actions aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of supermarkets. Separation of waste packaging from its food content at the source and the use of bread as animal feed were investigated as alternative waste treatment routes and the results show that both have the potential to lead to a reduction in the carbon footprint of the supermarket.

This article presents a mini review of research aimed at understanding material recovery from municipal solid waste. It focuses on two areas, waste sorting behaviour and collection systems, so that research on the link between these areas could be identified and evaluated. The main results presented and the methods used in the articles are categorised and appraised. The mini review reveals that most of the work that offered design guidelines for waste management systems was based on optimising technical aspects only. In contrast, most of the work that focused on user involvement did not consider developing the technical aspects of the system, but was limited to studies of user behaviour. The only clear consensus among the articles that link user involvement with the technical system is that convenient waste collection infrastructure is crucial for supporting source separation. This mini review reveals that even though the connection between sorting behaviour and technical infrastructure has been explored and described in some articles, there is still a gap when using this knowledge to design waste sorting systems. Future research in this field would benefit from being multidisciplinary and from using complementary methods, so that holistic solutions for material recirculation can be identified. It would be beneficial to actively involve users when developing sorting infrastructures, to be sure to provide a waste management system that will be properly used by them.

Household waste separation at the source is a central part of waste management systems in Sweden. Resource recovery of materials and energy increased substantially after separate collection was implemented in the 1990s. A procedure to transform recycling behavior for the sorting of household waste—called the recycling behavior transition (RBT) procedure—was designed and implemented in a waste management system in Sweden. Repeated use of this procedure, which will assist in the continual improvement of household sorting, consists of the following four consecutive steps: (i) evaluating the current sorting behavior; (ii) identifying appropriate interventions; (iii) implementing the interventions, and; (iv) assessing the quantitative effect of the interventions. This procedure follows action research methodology and it is the first time that such a procedure has been developed and implemented for the sorting of household waste. The procedure can easily be adapted to any source separation system (which may have different local situations) and, by improving the source separation, will increase the resource recovery in the waste management system. The RBT procedure, together with its strengths and weaknesses, is discussed in this paper, and its implementation is exemplified by a pilot study done in Sweden.

The present study measures the participation of households in a source separation scheme and, in particular, if the household’s application of the scheme improved after two interventions: (a) shorter distance to the drop-off point and (b) easy access to correct sorting information. The effect of these interventions was quantified and, as far as possible, isolated from other factors that can influence the recycling behaviour. The study was based on households located in an urban residential area in Sweden, where waste composition studies were performed before and after the interventions by manual sorting (pick analysis). Statistical analyses of the results indicated a significant decrease (28%) of packaging and newsprint in the residual waste after establishing a property close collection system (intervention (a)), as well as significant decrease (70%) of the miss-sorted fraction in bags intended for food waste after new information stickers were introduced (intervention (b)). Providing a property close collection system to collect more waste fractions as well as finding new communication channels for information about sorting can be used as tools to increase the source separation ratio. This contribution also highlights the need to evaluate the effects of different types of information and communication concerning sorting instructions in a property close collection system.

Ch 4. Separate collection, i.e. source separation, of recyclable materials is crucial for sustainable management of household waste. Functioning and efficient source separation schemes require consideration of the local circumstances and understanding of the influential of behavioural factors pertaining to householders. There are a number of different approaches and technical systems used for source separation. This chapter discusses the role of citizens and presents examples of comprehensive source separation systems. Some recommendations for establishing, monitoring and evaluating separate collection systems concludes the chapter.

Source separation is a common method for dealing with the increasing problem of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in society. The citizens are then responsible for separating waste fractions produced in their home. If the consumers fail to sort the waste according to the source separation scheme, it will lead to an ineffective system. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the environmental, economic and social aspects of incorrect waste sorting in a medium sized Swedish city that has established a source separation system. In order to determine the extent to which citizens correctly sort their waste, food waste (black bags) and combustible fraction (white bags), were collected randomly from a residential area and categorized in different waste fractions. The results show that approximately 68 wt% of the waste in the white and 29 wt% in the black bags were not sorted correctly. This incorrect sorting accrues over 13 million SEK per year cost for this community. In order to improve the inhabitants’ participation in the waste management system, it is necessary to change different factors such as convenience and easy access to the recycling stations in the local MSW management systems as well as to review current regulation and policy.