Abstract/Summary

Food waste is increasingly recognized by policymakers worldwide to be an environmental, economic and food security priority where consumer decisions play a key role. Literature shows that there is uncertainty about consumer decisions to waste food which likely reflect trade-offs and economic incentives. Using the experimental vignette methodology, in an online stated survey, we investigated consumers’ food waste decisions in developed and developing countries. Specifically, we examined and compared consumers’ decisions to discard food in United Kingdom and Thailand during different eating scenarios which vary the presence/absence of other people during eating, place of eating, cost of the meal, amount of leftover food, and future meal plan. The results show that consumers both in the United Kingdom and Thailand are more likely to save food when eating at home, when the cost of a meal is high, and a full meal is left. Furthermore, while British consumers are more likely to save food when they have no meal plan for the following day, Thai consumers are more likely save food when eating alone. These findings have important implications and provide useful recommendations to policymakers and other stakeholders that aim to adopt FW reduction strategies.