Sustainable Consumption and its Influence on Behavioral Changes in Food Waste Management

Paper's objective(s) and research backgroundThe paper aims to find out how consumer behavior is changing in the context of the sustainable development of society.How sustainable consumption is perceived by individuals in meeting their needs.The product on which consumption behavior is observed and has become the focus of the authors' interest is food, particularly food waste.The paper identifies the factors that are considered to be critical in terms of sustainable consumption when consumers purchase food and require behavioral change.The paper also seeks to find ways of achieving behavioral changes in meeting the needs of the individual that are consistent with the needs of society as a whole.The subject of food management is mainly concerned with food waste and the identification of effective methods of education for sustainable consumption and zero food waste. Data/MethodsThe questionnaire survey was conducted among 759 respondents from the Slovak Republic (February -April 2023).Descriptive statistics and the PCA method of factor analysis were used to process the collected data, which allows to identificate artificial hypothetical variables (determinants) from a large number of factors acting on consumers, which show a significant share in the variability of the set of sustainable consumption.The 2 test was used to test the effect of selected socio-economic characteristics on the frequency of wastage. Results/Conclusions/Value addedThe 23 factors related to the causes of waste to reduce waste were reduced to 4 determinants of household perceptions of food waste.The price and quality of food still play a very important role in household food management.The results will allow us to compare similar surveys carried out in the Czech Republic.