Exploring the relationship between household food waste and potential predictors among Rotterdam residents

“It is estimated that one third of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted” (World Food Programme, 2020). In the past decades, the unprecedented scale of food waste has become a sustainability issue that is in dire need of addressing as it has been linked to a multitude of social, environmental, and economic issues. Food loss is occurring in every part of the global food supply chain. However, food waste has been linked primarily to the consumer spectrum in developed countries. The Netherlands has been rated amongst the worst European countries for household food waste (Seveno, 2022). The city of Rotterdam, specifically, reported having 94 kg of household food waste annually (Langeveld, 2018). This reality indicates a severe problem in the consumer behavior and waste management of the municipality. Previous literature primarily measures household food waste by measuring behavior/s that increase or decrease food waste, and the effect of awareness interventions on these factors. The present study examines the relationships between household food waste and relevant predictors: food waste behaviors, food waste awareness, and sociodemographic factors. This study adapted the Stimulus Organism Response to develop a theoretical concept to measure the predictors. The study is spatially bound to Rotterdam residents of Struisenberg, Kralingen. The quantitative nature of this study adopts one method of primary data collection: the survey. The data collected 361 respondents and used statistical analysis namely descriptive, correlation and multiple regression to discuss the findings. The outcome of the analysis is that food waste behavior has the strongest relation and predictive ability to measure household food waste. It is inconclusive the extent to which the food waste awareness or sociodemographic factors measured have a similar effect, though the research found six factors influence considerably more. This study does not attempt to provide definitive statements, but rather aid to academic and societal discourse. The interpretations of this research argue that to address household food waste in Rotterdam, more funding, educational campaigns, and census data collection need to be executed.