Driving pro-environmental practice change and food waste reduction in (and around) professional kitchens: Connecting materiality and meaning

This paper examines how interventions via the physical working environment can be used to promote behaviour aimed at food waste reduction. Building on theories of practice, data were collected at luxury hotels using multiple methods, encompassing document analysis, observation and interviews. A new set of protocols for waste collection were introduced in the kitchens to drive practice change among chefs and associated personnel. The findings suggest that the intervention was initially met with resistance, which was attributed to the misalignment of meanings associated with this initiative among practitioners. However, subsequent human and non-human interventions helped to create new shared meanings that drove changes in attitudes and behaviours. The findings show how this initial focus on materiality led to change in ‘meaningful knowledge’, and subsequently shared meanings. Moreover, the data stress that practice change is constrained when shared meanings are not established and mobilised effectively. Overall, the study demonstrates how organisational practices concerning food waste can be modified through small-scale interventions, coupled with additional reinforcement strategies. • Applies practice theory to examine organisational food waste reduction interventions • Draws on a multi-method empirical study conducted in the kitchens of luxury hotels • Assesses an intervention strategy initially focusing on the material environment • Considers how this approach was embedded in a range of reinforcement activities • Examines how shared meanings evolved to shape pro-environmental practice