Applying Behaviour Change Methods to Food Waste

Similar to all human behaviours, food management behaviours are very complex with many external and internal influences. Knowledge of these influences is critical to develop effective interventions to minimize household food waste. This chapter explains two psycho-social models that can help understand householders’ wasteful food behaviours, and guide interventions to promote more desirable food behaviours – The Motivation, Ability and Opportunity Model (MOA) and the Transtheoretical Model (TTM). The MOA identifies people’s limitations to perform more desirable behaviours. It explains that behaviours are only performed when they are in the households’ self-interest, and if people have the abilities and opportunities to perform them. The TTM is based on several psychological behaviour change theories and identifies where people sit in various ‘stages of change’ (from not contemplating any change, to achieving a change and performing a new desirable behaviour). The TTM can also identify what people see as the costs and benefits of making a behaviour change, as well as explaining several psycho-social processes that need to be operating for a change to occur