Food waste prevention and reduction: Practices, cultural and personal determinants.

Food waste is a pressing global issue with profound social, environmental, and economic implications, prompting an urgent need for a comprehensive understanding of its sources. In the current study, we explored the role of cultural and personal determinants in food management practices. We operationalized two food practices - prevention of food waste by inventory and meal management and reduction of food waste by leftovers management, and explored how they are shaped by personal and cultural determinants. We asked 1200 respondents, three types of questions about their (1) cultural and personal attributes, such as their ethical and religious values; (2) lifestyle and dietary habits, such as their frequency of eating out, and (3) sociodemographic characteristics. We modeled the association between these three types of questions and the two food management practices utilizing a hierarchical multiple regression model. The results indicate that ascribing significant importance to hospitality is associated with less proficiency in inventory and meal management. Those who place a high priority on hospitality preparedness are proficient in managing leftovers but less proficient in inventory and meal management. In addition, individuals with strong ethical and religious views against food wastage tend to manage their inventory and meals poorly but excel at handling surplus food. Finally, secular Ashkenazi Israelis tend to engage in better practices to prevent and reduce food waste. The results also stress the differences between practices to prevent food waste and those to reduce it, opening a promising avenue for future research.

The Destructive Effects of Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles on Farmer Well-Being: Mental Health Consequences Outweigh Economic Losses.

In many countries, the use of recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs) occasionally spills over into agricultural lands. The conflict between ROV users and farmers is escalating due to the growing popularity of ROVs. Determined action of authorities for mitigating the phenomenon may necessitate an understanding of the nature and extent of the actual damage caused by ROVs. However, it is currently unknown how ROVs harm agriculture and what is their main deleterious effect on farmers. We tested our hypothesis that economic costs are the leading reason for farmer distress using in-depth interviews with 46 Israeli farmers that are affected by ROVs. We found that contrary to our hypothesis, economic costs were low and negligible, despite high levels of anger, distress, or hopelessness expressed by almost all farmers. The main reason for outrage and frustration was the emotional impact of ROV activity on the farmers. Therefore, measuring the effects of ROVs on agriculture in terms of economic losses will probably be ineffective in convincing policymakers to act against the reckless use of ROVs in agricultural lands. On the other hand, conveying the emotional implications for the farmers can potentially promote change if accompanied by explanations on the importance of caring for the mental health and well-being of a sector that already suffers from levels of stress and mental health problems that are among the highest of any other industry in the world.

Between perceptions and practices: The religious and cultural aspects of food wastage in households.

Understanding the determinants of food provisioning is crucial for efforts to reduce household food wastage. Various studies have identified a web of interrelated socio-demographic characteristics, values, attitudes, and skills as drivers of household food wastage. Our contribution is in exploring the relationship between cultural and religious views and food waste generation. We do that in the context of three social groups in Israel: secular Jews, religious Jews, and Muslim Arabs. We interviewed 27 individuals who have a certain standing in their respective communities with broad perspective of the cultural context of food-related issues. Our results highlight the conflict between religious and secular values and actual food wastage practices. We identified several factors that lead to household food wastage: past scarcity, the consumer culture, and hospitality. We found various ways by which cultural and religious values shape food-waste perceptions. Results show a dissonance between food-related motivations and actual practices. We also demonstrate how the dissonance can be reconciled, both on the level of justification and on the level of action.

See or Be? Contact with nature and well-being during COVID-19 lockdown.

This study investigated how contact with nature benefitted well-being during a strict lockdown. The study took place in Israel during the last week of the first COVID-19 lockdown, when citizens were restricted to remain within 100 m of home. A survey company distributed questionnaires among 776 individuals. The questionnaires included demographic variables (gender, ethnic and cultural groups, age, income loss due to the pandemic), contact with nature variables (Nature near home, Nature viewed from home windows, and being in nature on the preceding day), and well-being measures (positive affect, negative affect, vitality, happiness, and stress). Before completing the well-being questionnaire, participants took part in an experiment that tested the effect of viewing nature images or urban images on well-being measures. The results showed that nature near home and nature viewed from the windows contributed to higher levels of well-being, and that being in nature on the preceding day was associated with higher levels of positive affect. These benefits emerged even among those who had been economically harmed by the pandemic. Viewing nature images was also associated with level of well-being, mainly to reduced level of stress and negative affect. The current findings extend the understanding of the benefits of access to nature during stressful times, particularly during emergencies when accessing remote nature is impossible. Furthermore, the findings highlight the dual effect of contact with nature on well-being: enhancement of positive affect together with reduction of negative affect and stress. The findings indicate that exposure to nature is much more valuable for women than for men. These findings are highly important in view of gender differences in pandemic's impact on people's well-being.

Bridging the gap between self-assessments and measured household food waste: A hybrid valuation approach.

Great effort is invested in mapping the extent of household food waste and its main determinants. However, food waste valuation remains a challenging task. Valuation methods can be divided roughly into objective measurements that are based on physical waste surveys, and subjective self-assessments that are based on diaries or questionnaires. Self-assessment methods have been more popular than food waste measurement because they are less costly. The goal of this paper is to empirically test whether self-assessments can accurately reflect objective measurement. To answer this question, we implemented a hybrid valuation approach by integrating and comparing three methods: a self-assessment questionnaire, a physical waste survey, and a food expenditure survey. Self-assessments slightly underestimated measured food waste proportion (13.7% vs. 16.3%, respectively). The results also show a positive, yet, not very strong correlation between the measures and the self-assessments of unconsumed and partly consumed avoidable food waste in most food categories. Self-assessments of monetary losses were €42.07 per household per month on average, overestimating calculated losses of €25.74 on average. Our findings question the validity of self-assessments. The current paper demonstrates the questionable nature of the implicit assumption that self-assessment reflects the true level of food waste and suggests a rigorous method for exploring this relation.

The state of municipal solid waste management in Israel.

Regulation is a key tool for implementing municipal solid waste (MSW) management strategies and plans. While local authorities in Israel are responsible for the storage, collection, and disposal of MSW, Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MoEP) is responsible for the formulation and implementation of waste management policies and legislation. For the past 12 years, about 80% of the MSW in Israel has been landfilled and recycling rates have not increased, despite regulations. This paper presents the state of MSW management in Israel in light of the MoEP's strategic goal of landfilling reduction, the regulations and legislation designed and implemented for achieving this goal, and the ensuing results. Among other things, the results indicate the importance of monitoring and assessing policy and regulations to examine whether regulation is in fact effective and whether it keeps track of its own targets and goals or not. It is also concluded that even when there is an extensive regulation that includes a wide range of laws, economic penalties and financial incentives (such as landfill levy and financing of MSW separation at source arrangements), this does not guarantee proper treatment or even an improvement in waste management. The key to success is first and foremost a suitable infrastructure that will enable achievement of the desired results.

What gets measured gets managed: A new method of measuring household food waste.

The quantification of household food waste is an essential part of setting policies and waste reduction goals, but it is very difficult to estimate. Current methods include either direct measurements (physical waste surveys) or measurements based on self-reports (diaries, interviews, and questionnaires). The main limitation of the first method is that it cannot always trace the waste source, i.e., an individual household, whereas the second method lacks objectivity. This article presents a new measurement method that offers a solution to these challenges by measuring daily produced food waste at the household level. This method is based on four main principles: (1) capturing waste as it enters the stream, (2) collecting waste samples at the doorstep, (3) using the individual household as the sampling unit, and (4) collecting and sorting waste daily. We tested the feasibility of the new method with an empirical study of 192 households, measuring the actual amounts of food waste from households as well as its composition. Household food waste accounted for 45% of total waste (573 g/day per capita), of which 54% was identified as avoidable. Approximately two thirds of avoidable waste consisted of vegetables and fruit. These results are similar to previous findings from waste surveys, yet the new method showed a higher level of accuracy. The feasibility test suggests that the proposed method provides a practical tool for policy makers for setting policy based on reliable empirical data and monitoring the effectiveness of different policies over time.

A regional optimization model for waste-to-energy generation using agricultural vegetative residuals.

The spatial distribution of vegetative agricultural residuals (VAR) implies that any waste treatment system (WTS) designed to manage VAR is particularly sensitive to transportation costs. Additionally, a wide range of treatment technologies is potentially available for VAR treatment, but some of them lack a well-developed market for their output products. This study develops a method to design an economically feasible VAR treatment system, analyzing the profitability of the system as a function of logistics and uncertain market prices of the available treatment technologies' products. The design method includes an economic optimization model followed by a sensitivity analysis of the potential changes in the system's profitability. The results show that the market price of the treatment technologies' products has a larger impact on the system's profitability than transportation costs. Specifically, if biochar prices reach the level forecasted by experts, pyrolysis will become the dominant technology of the WTS. The research highlights the importance of the treatment technology selection and the location of treatment facilities in the design of an optimal WTS for VAR.

One size fits all? An assessment tool for solid waste management at local and national levels.

As environmental awareness rises, integrated solid waste management (WM) schemes are increasingly being implemented all over the world. The different WM schemes usually address issues such as landfilling restrictions (mainly due to methane emissions and competing land use), packaging directives and compulsory recycling goals. These schemes are, in general, designed at a national or regional level, whereas local conditions and constraints are sometimes neglected. When national WM top-down policies, in addition to setting goals, also dictate the methods by which they are to be achieved, local authorities lose their freedom to optimize their operational WM schemes according to their specific characteristics. There are a myriad of implementation options at the local level, and by carrying out a bottom-up approach the overall national WM system will be optimal on economic and environmental scales. This paper presents a model for optimizing waste strategies at a local level and evaluates this effect at a national level. This is achieved by using a waste assessment model which enables us to compare both the economic viability of several WM options at the local (single municipal authority) level, and aggregated results for regional or national levels. A test case based on various WM approaches in Israel (several implementations of mixed and separated waste) shows that local characteristics significantly influence WM costs, and therefore the optimal scheme is one under which each local authority is able to implement its best-fitting mechanism, given that national guidelines are kept. The main result is that strict national/regional WM policies may be less efficient, unless some type of local flexibility is implemented. Our model is designed both for top-down and bottom-up assessment, and can be easily adapted for a wide range of WM option comparisons at different levels.

Reduction of plastic carrier bag use: An analysis of alternatives in Israel.

Plastic carrier bags have been drawing the attention of the public and politicians. Different policy measures to reduce the environmental burden of these bags have been implemented and more are planned. The research analyzed the actual environmental aspects of consumption and use of plastic carrier bags and assessed the effectiveness of the proposed regulation in Israel. Since plastic bags are provided free of charge, people have a tendency to use these bags excessively, therefore a rigorous educational program should address this trend. However, the environmental load imposed by the bags is more a politically correct issue than an actual environmental hazard, and therefore the means for reducing their use should not include a high levy or total elimination of these bags.

Measuring externalities of waste transfer stations in Israel using hedonic pricing.

This study estimates the economic value of externalities related to waste transfer stations in Israel. Most externalities are associated with local disamenities experienced by residents living in close proximity to transfer stations - including noise, odor, litter, vermin, visual intrusion and any associated perceived discomfort. Following the mapping of all active transfer stations in Israel, problematic sites near residential areas were identified. Four of these sites were selected for detailed examination. The study involved estimating the economic value of disamenities using the Hedonic Price Method, which examines the impact of disamenities on property values. The results indicate that the maximum spatial extent of the impact occurs about 2.8km away from a transfer station with an increase of about $5000 in housing price for each additionalkm away from the site. Alternatively, an increase of 1% in the average distance of a house from the local transfer station is associated with a 0.06% rise in the price of the average house. These figures, representing the relationship between changes in environmental quality and property prices, indicate that transfer stations create externalities that should be taken into account in location and clean-up policies for transfer stations as well as in potential compensation policies.

A critical review of economic valuation studies of externalities from incineration and landfilling.

The primary objective of this study was to assist waste management researchers, decision-makers and waste managers at national, regional and local levels, in their decision-making processes, with most recent valuations on the environmental and social costs of externalities associated with various pollutants and disamenities related to landfilling and incineration of municipal solid waste. The aim was achieved by mapping, gathering, analysing, comparing and synthesizing various valuation estimates, based on a thorough review of existing literature. This study provides the first comprehensive review and analysis focused on primary and secondary valuation studies, conducted since 1990. The second objective was to assess the appropriateness and reliability of the valuation methods and techniques that were performed in the reviewed studies. The results of the review are summarized in tables, organized by topics and units of measure and in addition a classified list that describes the profile of the reviewed studies is provided. The results are then analysed and compared, and recommended ranges of the values are presented. The study reveals inconsistency in part of the estimates across the reviewed studies and provides reasonable explanations for the variations. Given the nature of uncertainty, and the difficulties associated with transferring values among different places and cases, these values should be considered mostly as an indication for the order of magnitude of the externalities. Nevertheless, these essential estimates of the external costs can beneficially be used with proper adjustment for each individual case to address important policy questions regarding landfilling and incineration of waste.

Household demand for waste recycling services.

Municipalities everywhere are coping with increasing amounts of solid waste and need urgently to formulate efficient and sustainable solutions to the problem. This study examines the use of economic incentives in municipal waste management. Specifically, we address the issue of recycling, if and when this waste management option is-on social welfare grounds-a preferred solution.A number of studies have recently assessed the monetary value of the externalities of alternative solid waste management options. In the present context, these subsidies could be interpreted as the implicit value of the benefits from reducing environmental externalities associated with landfilling as perceived by local government authorities. We surmise that the difference between mean households' willingness to pay (WTP) for recycling services, via the purchase of a subsidized waste disposal facility, and the above (proxy) value of externalities reflects the difference between private and public perception regarding the negative externality associated with landfilling. We believe that this information is useful in determining the level of subsidization needed (if at all) to sustain any recycling program.The study is unique in the sense that its conclusions are based on revealed household behavior when faced with increased disposal costs, as well as information on WTP responses in hypothetical but related (and, therefore, familiar) scenarios. The article also explores the influence of the subsidization schemes on recycling rates. It was found that with low levels of effort needed to participate in a curbside recycling program, households' participation rates are mainly influenced by economic variables and age, and households are willing to pay a higher price for the recycling scheme. When the required effort level is relatively high, however, households would pay a lower price, and the rate is influenced mainly by their environmental commitment and by economic considerations. We found that in both cases a subsidy would be required in order to achieve an efficient level of recycling. The median price that households are willing to pay for recycling devices is found to be about NIS 370 (New Israeli Shekel, approximately 90 dollars).