Document Type

Theses, Ph.D

Disciplines

Business and Management., 5.2 ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

Abstract

Despite growing research on consumer food waste, existing efforts have fallen short of achieving meaningful reductions. This challenge has primarily been attributed to the complex behavioural and demographic diversity within populations, reflected in varying practices of food acquisition, storage, preparation, and disposal. In addition, there is a limited understanding of the broader impacts of discarded food, particularly the environmental, economic, and nutritional losses. This results in an oversimplified view of HFW and leads to less effective intervention strategies. An integrated assessment that incorporates environmental, nutritional, and economic consequences can provide a more holistic representation of the problem and support the design of tailored, comprehensive and more effective interventions. This thesis addresses these gaps by presenting the first integrated, multi-dimensional, data driven analysis of HFW in the ROI. Adopting an alternative thesis-by-publication format, the research begins with a scoping review and pooled analysis of HFW generation in high-income countries between 2010 and 2022, which contextualises the Irish case and informs the subsequent empirical design. Building on this foundation, the thesis quantifies HFW volumes and composition, models key sociodemographic and behavioural predictors, segments households according to waste-related behavioural profiles, evaluates the associated environmental, nutritional, and economic impacts, and quantifies metabolic food waste arising from dietary overconsumption; a dimension of consumer food resource inefficiency not captured by conventional discard-based measurement. Data were collected over 16 consecutive months through a national online survey. Quantile regression was used to model the relationship between HFW and sociodemographic and behavioural variables. To examine behavioural patterns in food disposal, Principal Component Analysis was conducted to extract latent behavioural dimensions, followed by cluster analysis to empirically classify households. Building on the behaviour clusters, a behaviourally i segmented assessment of food-waste impacts was conducted. Environmental impacts were derived using the Agribalyse 3.1 database. Nutritional losses were estimated using the official nutrient composition database as a reference. Economic losses were calculated using current retail prices of the discarded food items. Beyond discard-based measurement, metabolic food waste (MFW) was also quantified to capture waste not observable at the disposal stage. Using individual dietary intake data, food energy intake (kilocalories) was compared with physiological energy requirements to estimate waste arising from dietary overconsumption among adults with excess body weight. The average weekly food waste was 1,080 g/household, with bread, fruits, and vegetables accounting for the largest share. Multi-adult households (households with two or more people) generated the highest absolute quantities (1,177 g/week), while single-adult households produced the highest per-capita waste (720 g/week). Reliance on ‘best-before’ labels and frequent grocery shopping were among the strongest behavioural drivers. Four behaviour based groups were identified: High-Spending Disposers (39%, n = 380), Practical Waste Separators (30%, n = 286), Time-Conscious Savers (17%, n = 165), and General Bin Disposers (14%, n = 135). High-Spending Disposers generated the highest waste (1,827.9 g/household/week), spent more on groceries, used fewer leftovers, and were mainly urban households following an omnivore diet pattern. In contrast, Time-Conscious Savers (508.6 g/household/week) and Practical Waste Separators (555.6 g/household/week) generated the least waste, reported time-saving motivations, consistently used brown bins, planned meals more effectively, spent less on groceries, and reused leftovers more frequently.

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