Assessment of household food waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia: a cross-sectional online survey.
- Authors
- Type
- Published Article
- Journal
- Environmental Science and Pollution Research
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 2022
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 11130–11141
- Identifiers
- DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16485-8
- PMID: 34532805
- Source
- Medline
- Keywords
- Language
- English
- License
- Unknown
Abstract
The Serbian government has taken several measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These measures may have led to a disruption of daily life and affected food-related behaviors. This paper investigates the state of food waste management in Serbia and COVID-19's direct effect on consumer awareness, food consumption, and food waste behaviors. The study is based on an online survey using a structured questionnaire administered in Serbian from May 13 until June 13, 2020, through the Google forms platform. A total of 1212 valid answers were collected, mainly from female, young, and high-educated people. The survey results suggested that (i) household food waste in Serbia is low and there is a positive attitude toward food waste prevention; (ii) food waste increased during the COVID-19 pandemic; (iii) consumers reduced the number of shopping trips and shopped more than usual during the pandemic. This study contributes to a better understanding of consumers' consumption habits and attitudes toward food waste to prevent and reduce it. © 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
