Capitalising on COVID-19 as a Trigger for Positive Change in Food Waste Behaviour

家庭食物浪费是一个公认的社会问题，它会导致温室气体排放、粮食不安全和粮食价格上涨。在英国，家庭食物垃圾占所有农场后食品垃圾的70%，英国政府的迈克尔·戈夫（Michael Gove）对此表示认可：“没有人希望看到好的食物被浪费。它损害我们的环境，不利于商业，而且在道德上是站不住脚的。”尽管过去曾有过减少食物浪费的研究，但在COVID-19封锁之前，这个问题在很大程度上仍然难以解决。新冠肺炎疫情封锁给人们的日常生活带来了巨大的环境变化。然而，正如废物与资源行动计划（WRAP）和英国媒体的报告所指出的那样，它已经导致了食物浪费相关行为的积极变化。例如，英国消费者报告称，与2018-2019年的平均水平相比，他们对减少家庭食物浪费的意识和意愿有所提高，导致四种主要产品（面包、牛奶、土豆和鸡肉）的食物浪费减少了34%。然而，随着封锁的放松，这些变化可能不会持续太久。我们的研究旨在利用食物浪费行为的积极变化，并研究长期维持这种变化的机会。因此，我们的项目将(1)确定在封锁下影响食物浪费行为的因素，(2)制定、实施和评估干预措施，以支持积极的行为改变，以及(3)利用我们与WRAP和零浪费苏格兰的合作伙伴关系，在英国各地传播成果。这项研究的结果将对英国的食品不安全、消费者的成本节约和食品价格通胀产生积极的社会和经济影响，以及通过不生产成为浪费的食物对所需资源和投入的数量和产生的温室气体的环境影响

Household food waste is an acknowledged societal problem, contributing to greenhouse gas production, food insecurity, and food price inflation. In the UK, household food waste makes up 70% of all post-farm-gate food waste and was recognized by the UK Government's Michael Gove: "Nobody wants to see good food go to waste. It harms our environment, it's bad for business - and it's morally indefensible.". Although there have been studies in the past to reduce food waste, the problem has largely remained intractable until the COVID-19 lockdown.The COVID-19 lockdown has been a big contextual change in people's daily lives. However, it has resulted in positive changes in food waste-related behaviours as indicated in the reports of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and UK media. For example, UK consumers reported an increased awareness and willingness to minimise household food waste leading to a 34% reduction in food waste across 4 key products (bread, milk, potatoes, and chicken) compared to the average across 2018-2019. However, these changes may not last long with the ease of lockdown. Our research aims to harness the positive changes in food waste behaviour and investigate opportunities to sustain this change over the long term. Therefore, our project will (1) identify the factors that have affected food waste behaviours under lockdown, (2) develop, implement and evaluate interventions to support positive behaviour change, and (3) use our partnerships with WRAP and Zero Waste Scotland to disseminate the outcomes across the UK. The outcomes of this research will have positive social and economic impacts on UK food insecurity, consumers' cost savings, and food price inflation, as well as environmental impact on the amount of resources and inputs required and greenhouse gas generated, by not producing food that becomes waste