A Report on Social Media's Influence in Minimizing Food Wastage

This report explores the significant role of social media in mitigating food wastage within households and supermarkets. It delves into various aspects, including the impact of social marketing and government campaigns in reshaping consumer perceptions and behaviors. The report highlights how social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are utilized to disseminate information about food production, consumption, and waste, thereby raising awareness among consumers. It examines successful initiatives such as the #valuefood and #mealformeal campaigns, along with government-led programs like Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW), which leverage social media to promote smart shopping, effective storage, and waste reduction. The report also discusses the role of online magazines and social media interactions in providing tips and strategies for minimizing household food waste. Furthermore, it analyzes how social media facilitates the reduction of plastic bag usage and supports the implementation of sustainable practices within the retail sector. Overall, the report emphasizes the potential of social media as a powerful tool for influencing consumer behavior and driving positive changes in the food system, ultimately contributing to reduced wastage and environmental sustainability.

SOCIAL MEDIA HELP IN REDUCING WASTAGE
IN HOUSEHOLD AND SUPERMARKET

ABSTRACT
Social media has become the powerful medium through which message can be circulated to mass
audience within less duration. Current study discusses practices of social marketing and
government advertisement campaign which have changed perception of the population.
Furthermore, report describes role of social influences regrading sustainability of food products
in homes and supermarkets.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
In the modern era, social media is considered as one of the effective tool that helps in
influencing behaviour of retail consumers. Wastage is the global issue as this impact on
environment, social and economic aspects (Lim and et.al. pp. 18-32). Household and
supermarket are such sectors where wastage is increasing day by day. Current study will discuss
impact of social media on reducing household and supermarket wastage.
MAIN BODY
Government of Australia continuously tries to encourage energy conservation, reusing of
products and recycling of the same. Sustainability can be defined as consideration and designing
of consumption choice in order to utilise resources well. After 2000, recycling boom has changed
scenario of the market (Young and et.al., pp. 195-203). Statistical records show that one third
part of total food produced is wasted globally every year. As per the record of Australian
government, 15 million tonnes food and drinks are thrown by population annually. This
increasing wastage in household and supermarket have affected economic and environment
condition of nation.
Escalating prices of food creating issues because of that poor people are unable to get
adequate amount of food daily. Disposal of food and drink increases methane and CO2 emission.
It is crucial for sustainability of food system. Therefore, it is very important for supermarket and
household activities to avoid food wastage. One of the survey shows that 17% food wastage
occurs in Australia, it is because of behaviour of the population. Super market contributes 3% in
food wastage in Australia. Behaviour of consumers in household activities and supermarket
activities can be influenced by social media (Young and et.al., pp. 195-203). Customers are
engaged in multiple household activities. Internet, social media can change behaviour of the
people and help in reducing food wastage in household and supermarket.
Internet and social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter support in changing attitude
of consumers.
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With the assistance of social networking sites, individual can get relevant information
about production, consumption, wastage etc. It can make them aware with mistakes which
increases food wastage. This information can help in reducing wastage and improve the food
system of Australia. Waste is serious global problem which is increasing its consequences every
year. #value food was the online effort in which authorities have educated people about food
wastage and how it impacts on natural resources (Lim and et.al., pp. 18-32). This campaign was
spread with the rapid speed and has supported in changing behaviour of consumers.
#mealformeal has supported in preventing from food wastage issue. In this campaign, food is
distributed to needy people. In this, people post their image of food on social networking sites
using aforementioned hashtag. By this way, organisation has become able to give meal to
millions of Australian people.
Food wastage reduction campaign was organised by Australian government in order to
test effectiveness of communication channels. It has supported in making people aware with
smart shopping, effective storing of products in supermarket and houses (Romani and et.al., pp.
215-227). This has supported in minimising wastage of food. People spend much time on social
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Illustration 1: Influence on food wastage
Source: (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bse.1966/pdf)

networking sites and by promoting this big issue on these sites, leaders can influence people and
can change their perceptions. Asda magazine distributed to approx. 3 million customers every
month online. In this magazine, leaders provide tips to cut down household wastage of food
material. Through this article, people can get to know about preservation and storing of food so
that wastage can be minimised to great extent. Asda Facebook page is the great example of this,
in which Asda has conducted face to face interaction with consumers (Blanke and et.al., pp. 389-
399). Entity has circulated message about love food and hate waste.
Social communication is the strategy through which market leaders can make people
aware with the prevention technique and can know about their buying behaviour. This can help
in knowing root cause of the problems so leaders can give proper solution of these issues so that
wastage in supermarkets and houses can be reduced (Wagner and et.al., pp. 340-367).
Australian Government has arranged funds for organising campaign for food wastage
reduction. In the Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) program, Australian government has taken
support of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to make people aware
(http://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/10-food-waste-campaigns/). After this action, 20% reduction in
food wastage has taken place. This initiative has supported in proper planning, storing and
making people aware with the best use of food material in supermarket and homes. Facebook
page has encouraged thousands of people to be associated with this campaign for reducing food
discard (Kurz and et al., pp. 113-128).
One of the biggest benefit of social media is that it supports in reducing plastic shopping
bags. Now, supermarkets such as Asda and Tesco are offering facility of online shopping to
consumers. When people go to purchase the material at supermarket, then they pack their
purchased material in plastic bags (https://www.oneyoungworld.com/blog/lickitclean-using-
social-media-reduce-food-waste). Use of this plastic beg impact on environment badly. Plastics
cannot be recycled again. Australian government has made legislation to not to use plastic bags
(Krebs and et.al.). But now, people are buying products online which has reduced consumption
of plastic bags in the society. Furthermore, in the retail trade, waste of material is increasing day
by day. Along with this, supermarkets do not handle the food and other products well (Wang and
et.al.). In such condition, supermarkets change this material and buy new products. This
increases wastage. It is essential to meet the demand in order to reduce wastage of food
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344916303160). The main cause of
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increasing wastage rate is shelf life of perishable food products. Australian government has made
legislation that no supermarket can sell expiry products. In such condition, if products do not get
sold then they have to throw such material. Consumers like to buy high quality products and if
food gets spoiled, then they throw it. Inadequate storing techniques and poor knowledge
increases wastage in homes and in supermarkets. Through social sites, common message for
food safety can be spread easily (Pathak and et.al., pp.860). By this way, people be aware with
food preventions tools. It can help in developing their knowledge. This can make them aware
with recycling of the products or reuse of such material. Therefore, it can help in decreasing
wastage rate.
LFHW campaign has shared different views of making delicious meal with minimum
wastage. On Twitter, government has launched a campaign #loveleftovers and
#loveyourleftovers. This has encouraged people and they have posted pictures of delicious food
made for needed people (Kurz and et al., pp. 113-128). This has enhanced awareness of
population and they have made changes in their behaviour. After this campaign, wastage of food
material in household and supermarkets got down to great extent
(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bse.1966/pdf). Through social sites, people can get
to know how to preserve food and keep it safe for longer duration. Apart from this, through these
sites, message regarding reuse of material can be spread quickly. This can help supermarkets in
consuming food and preserving it safe for lengthy period of time.
On social sites people can share their views and this can motivate other people of the
society. By this way, other person get to know about waste resource management. With the help
of this, people can manage natural resources well and can contribute well in decreasing wastage
in supermarket. This can help in prevention of food and keeping it safe for longer duration (Kurz
and et al., pp. 113-128).
Social media is helpful in reducing household and supermarket wastage. On social
networking sites, many people share their views about food preservation. This helps in
improving knowledge of population. Through social sites, companies are getting aware with
cooking as well as eating practices. It improved and increased suitability of food system in the
Australian market. People like to use internet and they look at the sites where they can get
information about keeping material safe for longer time in their business and homes (Krebs and
et.al.).
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Government of Australia has taken initiative for giving support to food recovery system.
Through online sources, leader encourages people so that they reuse the remaining food material
and give it to those people who really needed it. This can help in the best use of food materials.
Supermarkets can improve their supply chain system in order to reduce food wastage. In this
respect through social sites, they can make connection with other suppliers and can get to know
quality and price of their material (Pathak and et.al., pp.860). They make contacts with supliers
and deal with them so that if food is not purchased by consumers then supermarkets can return
such goods to suppliers After that suppliers can recycle such material in order to reduce
wastage. This is the best and cost-effective way through which overall environment and
economic condition can be improved (https://www.oneyoungworld.com/blog/lickitclean-using-
social-media-reduce-food-waste).
The food wastage in current time is increasing at alarming rate, that it has attained the concern
of government. In current time, the government of nation is trying to come up with the best soluti
on through which they can reduce this problem in supermarkets and households. As we have alre
ady discussed how government has initiated a campaign through which they can create awarenes
s among people other than this (Wagner and et.al., pp.340-
367). The supermarket people can also use social media to sell their food products before they ge
t spoiled. Through analysis, it has come forward that in food section also the number of wastage i
s
the highest in fresh fruits and vegetable as they get spoiled easily. In order to reduce this problem
, supermarket can take the help of social media. For instance, the firm can use social media such
as Facebook to update people about the sales, as it is known
that it has become the fastest medium to pass information, it will help people in making more aw
are about prevention techniques that will assist in minimising wastage in food section.
It has also been analysed that social marketing have major influence on the behaviour of
an individual; the main philosophy behind this is that it relies on self interest and consumption of
Homo economics (https://www.oneyoungworld.com/blog/lickitclean-using-social-media-reduce-
food-waste). Social marketing utilises exchange principle in order to create behaviour change. O
n the basis of this analysis, it can be said that social marketing can really help in order to reduce t
he food waste. In UK, the government has conducted a survey where they find that after using so
cial media campaign, there has been significant reduction in the quantity of the food wasted (Lim
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and et.al. pp. 18-
32). So, it can be said that social media helps in changing the behaviour of the people.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that social media is the powerful medium
which supports in changing perception of the people. It circulates information frequently to the
mass audience and make them aware with the prevention techniques. Social media campaign
such as #loveleftovers, #LickItClean, LFHW etc. have supported in reducing food wastage in
supermarket and homes. Above study can be summarised that inadequate storing techniques and
poor knowledge are the main causes of increasing wastage in homes and in supermarkets.
Through social sites, common message of food safety can be spread easily to mass audience.
These food prevention tools are effective enough in improving knowledge of the people. By this
way, they can take measures to keep food safe for longer duration and reuse waste materials in
homes and supermarket both.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Blanke, Michael. "Challenges of reducing fresh produce waste in Europe—From farm to
fork." Agriculture 5.3 (2015): 389-399.
Krebs, Alison L., and Market Intelligence Director. "What׳ s In a Number? Leveraging Scanner
Data to Understand the Retail Beef Consumer." (2016).
Kurz, Tim, et al. "Habitual behaviors or patterns of practice? Explaining and changing repetitive
climate‐relevant actions."Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 6.1 (2015):
113-128.
Lim, Veranika, et al. "Design implications for a community-based social recipe
system." Sustainable Technologies (WCST), 2014 World Congress on. IEEE, 2014.
Lim, Veranika, et al. "Designing for action: An evaluation of Social Recipes in reducing food
waste." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 100 (2017): 18-32.
Pathak, Sangeeta. "Social Implications of Data Mining Techniques." Journal of Basic and
Applied Engineering Research (JBAER) (2014): 860.
Romani, Simona, et al. "Domestic food practices: A study of food management behaviors and the
role of food preparation planning in reducing waste." Appetite 121 (2018): 215-227.
Wagner, Beverly, and Göran Svensson. "A framework to navigate sustainability in business
networks: The transformative business sustainability (TBS) model."European Business
Review 26.4 (2014): 340-367.
Young, C. William, et al. "Sustainable retailing–influencing consumer behaviour on food
waste." Business Strategy and the Environment (2017).
Young, William, et al. "Can social media be a tool for reducing consumers’ food waste? A
behaviour change experiment by a UK retailer." Resources, Conservation and
Recycling 117 (2017): 195-203.
Online:
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#LickItClean: Using social media to reduce food waste. 2015. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.oneyoungworld.com/blog/lickitclean-using-social-media-reduce-food-
waste>
10 Campaigns Working to Reduce Food Waste. 2016. [Online]. Available through
<http://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/10-food-waste-campaigns/>
Can social media be a tool for reducing consumers’ food waste? A behaviour change
experiment by a UK retailer. 2016. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344916303160>
National Waste Reports. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<https://www.environment.gov.au/protection/national-waste-policy/national-waste-
reports>
Sustainable retailing – influencing consumer behaviour on food waste. 2017. [Online].
Available through <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bse.1966/pdf>
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