1. Introduction
It is an immediate concern to the world to be able to supply food for its 9.1 billion individuals over the next 30 years [
1,
2]. Previous studies have stated that over 805 million people face daily hunger all over the world [
3,
4]. Numerous studies have determined that food security is at risk, and increased food production is no longer a desirable option, due to its consequences in terms of climate change, including environmental degradation, and loss of land, water, and energy resources [
5,
6,
7]. Environmental awareness has increased due to concerns about pollution and climate change. This has prompted governments, particularly in industrialized countries, to create regulations to protect and preserve the environment [
8,
9].
According to Abdelradi [
1], food waste, or food misfortune, is food that is not eaten. Food waste, or food misfortune, mostly occurs during the food-cycle in the processing system, on-site production, preparation, conveyance, retail, and utilization. Worldwide food misfortune, or food waste, comprises up to 33%, or one third, of all food delivered. Food wastage has even become a threat to food security globally. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) [
4], food security is defined as a person without enough food, and with restricted access to sufficient safe and nourishing food for healthy growth and development, as well as for an active and fulfilling life. Without tackling the issue of food loss and waste, building a sustainable food system is impossible, according to the EAT–Lancet Commission’s (2019) report [
10]. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has created food-system disruptions, which comprise delays in transportation and harvesting, which have increased the loss of perishable goods. This has established a new standard, and a consumption pattern that may have an adverse domino impact on the food industry’s ability to produce and consume food sustainably [
11].
Food waste is a multifaceted problem, with many contributing factors [
12,
13]. Food that is initially produced for human consumption, but is later thrown away or is not consumed by people, is characterized as food waste by Thyberg and Tonjes [
14]. Food waste is becoming widely acknowledged as a pressing issue among governments, businesses, other concerned groups, and the public, due to mounting evidence of the amounts of food wasted worldwide [
13]. In response, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for responsible consumption and production (Goal 12). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cover a wide range of topics, including social issues (such as no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, and gender equality), as well as environmental protection (such as clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, climate action, and life on land) and economic development (such as decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, sustainable cities, and communities) [
15]. This effort also heavily emphasizes multi-level cooperation, which comprises local, national, regional, and international cooperation, to create a worldwide partnership to address global concerns [
16].
New concepts and alternative economic models have been promoted to aid the shift to sustainable development. One of the well-liked strategies for promoting sustainable development initiatives is the circular economy (CE). The global community is moving to a sustainable model due to environmental GHG emissions, and the harm that linear economies cause to biodiversity and water demand [
17]. The “Production–Consuming–Recycling” cycle of sustainable development is favored by the new circular economy model [
18,
19]. By 2030, it is intended that food waste will be reduced by one half [
20]. Along the food supply chain, private households are some of the largest sources of food waste [
21,
22]. In addition to being a significant environmental issue, food waste has social repercussions, because the lost food could have fed one in nine hungry people on the planet [
23,
24]. Food waste disregards the needs of the current generation, and jeopardizes the needs of future generations. Consequently, food waste is one indicator that the feeding of the human population may not be able to continue [
25]. Food waste by consumers, or at the end of the food supply chain, also wastes the natural and financial resources that have been donated at earlier stages of the chain, leading to detrimental economic effects [
26,
27].
This study focuses on the urban territory of Klang Valley, specifically its households. It is one of the most populated areas in Malaysia, with a population size of 29.4 million in 2019, wherein 72.04% is urbanized [
28]. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government Malaysia (MHLG) estimates that the quantity of food waste generated by households alone may reach 8745 tons per day or 3,192,404 tons annually [
29]. The detailed breakdown shows that more than 38.32 percent of total garbage is produced by households, compared to restaurants, which produce 941,608 tons of garbage yearly, or 23.35 percent. Currently, only a few of the studies on waste measurement available at the national level have been focused on food waste. Both quantitative and qualitative research has been conducted on food-waste management in Malaysia, related to environmental consciousness [
30], how psycho-social factors influence intention [
31], green purchase behavior [
32], household intention [
33], food-waste separation intention [
34], and zero-waste pro-environmental behavior on a university campus [
35]. However, there is still a lack of data on food expenditure, choices, and reuse of food-waste behavior.
This study aims to investigate the relationships between food expenditures, food choice, and waste reuse; and food-waste behavior. Food expenditures in this paper are characterized as the acquisition of food at supermarkets, and other food stores where the end-user is the customer. Waste reuse implies any activity by which items or products are not wasted, and are reutilized for a similar purpose to that for which they were designed. On the other hand, food choice is how individuals choose what to purchase and eat. An unpredictable arrangement of factors transferred from one individual to another, such as culture, legacy, and upbringing, impact one’s food decisions. This study contributes to the findings in correlating people’s food waste conduct with these discernments, as well as adding to the small volume of literature exploring food waste at the family-unit level in Malaysia’s metropolitan region.
4. Discussion
The consumers’ behavior toward food waste was also found to differ according to gender, age, and income. The motivation to reduce food waste contrasts with earlier research about actual or self-reported consumer behavior around food waste. For instance, whereas a study found that women were more prone to reduce food waste than men, some studies have found that female respondents were more likely to report generating food waste (Visschers et al. [
64], Vasko et al. [
73]), whereas other studies have found that men waste more than women [
74,
75]. The present research findings indicate that male respondents were prone to food waste compared to female respondents.
This study examined the relationships between the dependent variable (food waste) and the independent variables (food expenditures, waste reuse, and food choice). The relationships between the dependent variable and independent variables are shown in Hypotheses 1 to 3. The results of the coefficient analysis have shown that two of the three hypotheses are accepted. Based on the results of Hypothesis 1, the relationship between food waste and food expenditures is confirmed. A positive relationship indicates that those who are more concerned about food expenditures will produce less food waste. The result of Hypothesis 1 confirms the previous study, that food waste occurs because of poor planning and discipline in buying household necessities [
1]. This indicates that food expenditures can lead to food waste. As mentioned earlier, after the emergence of a coronavirus disease (2019-nCoV) in December 2019, the whole world entered a state of chaos (Aqeel et al. [
76]; Nejhaddadgar et al. [
77]), and this changed consumers’ behavior in their purchasing and eating habits. They spent more than usual during the lockdown [
76], due to the fear, anxiety, and stress of being infected when going outside of the home [
78], and panic-buying without proper planning, which causes bulk-buying. If consumers tend to buy household items without planning, they may spend more than they need. When consumers buy more than what they need, this will lead to food-waste behavior. Having a planning routine, such as prior meal planning and inventory checks, may help households to reduce food waste, by reducing the possibility of inventory underestimation, and the purchase of leftover stock, as well as contributing to improved reuse routines (Stancu et al. [
22], Visschers et al. [
64]).
Hypothesis 2 is tested for the relationship between waste reuse and food waste. The result for H
2 has shown that the more positive the respondents are about reuse behavior, the less food waste behavior is to be expected. Initiatives to improve waste reuse (e.g., leftover reuse) patterns may have the greatest impact on food waste, even though food expenditures have a large potential. The result was supported by the previous study, that suggested that waste reuse such as freezing methods and cooking skills can reduce food-waste behavior (Stancu et al. [
22], Leverenz et al. [
54]). Furthermore, there could be a focus on improving subpar culinary abilities that may result in food waste (food burned during cooking), avoiding preparing more food than is necessary, and enhancing one’s capacity to transform leftovers into good new meals (e.g., leftover rice transform into fried rice).
Hypothesis 3 is not supported, which hypothesized that the more concerned the respondents are about food choice, the more food waste will be produced. Food choice and eating preferences are tied to the moral and health elements of eating, and influence subsequent food-purchasing decisions [
79]. Those who promote healthy eating may reduce food waste, but they are also among the causes of increased food waste and throw away more food when more criteria are used to differentiate between edible and non-edible food [
66]. Therefore, negative impact exists on food choices about food waste. The previous study also stated that food choice does not affect food waste, as the behavior itself provides comfort and predictability toward the respondents’ psychological reflection on what they are buying or eating [
22]. This indicates that when a respondent has a high awareness of household food choices, they can decide what they want, which may reduce the potential for food-waste behavior to occur.
5. Limitations
Some limitations to our study should be highlighted, such as the fact that our results are based on households in the Klang Valley area only. Thus, future studies could use this study as a source, but cover a larger area, such as the whole of Malaysia. This will allow us to improve, and to obtain more accurate data. Future studies could also compare food-waste behaviors in two different countries (i.e., Malaysia and Singapore), which have different economic and cultural backgrounds. The present study may also be limited in terms of the theory, which only focused on direct relationships. Behavior, in the context of food waste, is dynamic, and its drivers can shift. Consequently, future research should include food expenditures, waste reuse, and food choices, to gain a better knowledge of food waste. Future studies could replicate this study by adding mediating variables (i.e., technology innovations), or add further challenge by adding moderating variables (i.e., income) that may further enhance findings.
Because this study was entirely quantitative in nature, certain constraints surrounding survey-based data collection were in place; therefore, additional research should be conducted using alternative methodological techniques, such as mixed-methodology and qualitative approaches. Although this research was conducted during the pandemic, future studies focusing on food-waste-avoidance behavior will be beneficial. As society adapts to COVID-19, sustainable consumption could be corrected and adjusted to a new norm, and the long-term impact could play a major role among consumers.
6. Conclusions and Recommendations
This study aimed to validate the framework based on the literature on food-waste research. The outcomes of the measurement scales in this research convincingly fulfilled the standards of reliability of the analysis. In two out of three of the hypotheses presented, the independent variables displayed a positive relationship with the dependent variables, which may lead to the sustenance and validation of the FAO’s objective to decrease the volume of food waste and to avoid future starvation. However, one of the three hypotheses was not accepted, because respondents showed a negative behavior in food choices about food waste. Overall, this study achieved most of its objectives, which were the critical factors proposed in this research.
This study is important for us to further understand how food waste could be affected by two factors: food expenditures, and waste reuse. To achieve the goal of reducing global food waste, special attention needs to be paid to individual households. Thus, this study can educate Malaysian households on how to control their expenditure, and raise awareness about waste reuse for minimizing food waste, which can improve their quality of life. Although this study was limited to households, it can still be useful to marketers. Practicing socially responsible marketing by considering what is best for society and a sustainable future, rather than carelessly pushing the excessive purchase of items that will ultimately be wasted, is critical for marketers. Thus, this study can urge marketers to be more creative in developing consumer-targeting strategies, such as portraying their brands as purpose-driven in their efforts to combat food waste.
Proper food-expenditure management can reduce food waste, based on the present findings. Thus, policymakers can use the results to build awareness and improve current policy regarding individual responsibility in food-waste management in Malaysia in the future. For instance, various media and public-awareness efforts should relate the negative outcomes or repercussions of wasteful conduct, in order to raise consumer knowledge of the damaging implications of excessive food expenditure, and the importance of waste reuse. Fostering a sense of community among community members motivates consumers to contribute toward decreasing food waste. Thus, the views of governments can exert a powerful impact on home consumers to engage in better food management. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube can also be used to promote the views of governments and other influencers in encouraging food-waste-reduction behaviors.
This study revealed the importance of an individual understanding and planning his food-shopping behavior, and how this could have further benefits besides reducing the number of people that face starvation. The results of the current study show that male respondents wasted more food than their female counterparts. This is possibly due to the limited involvement of males in groceries shopping and food preparation, compared to their counterparts. Previous research conducted by Muhammad Najib and Majid [
80] in Malaysia showed that the income of female workers, on average, is lower than that of male workers. Therefore, there is a high possibility that males have a lower involvement in grocery shopping due to their work commitments. In this sense, we recommend that an in-depth study on gender involvement in food waste in Malaysia’s context should be explored in the future.
Food waste has been a serious problem for certain private organizations such as the FAO of the UN, as they are concerned about the number of people facing starvation, which has increased exponentially. The information which can be derived from this investigation may also educate society on the disastrous effects of food waste on our environment. Thus, suitable actions or policies can be taken and formulated to combat the problem of food waste. Furthermore, food waste is not limited to consumers when they throw food items away. The rejected items, which comprise food products from farmers or suppliers as well, also contribute to the mass production of food waste in landfills. Indirectly, the value chain effect of food waste may involve consumers to public authorities in handling the waste before it is classified as food waste in landfills. The handling of food-waste management can follow green and lean practices for solid waste management, which have been proven by many researchers to be able to reduce waste efficiently and effectively [
81].
A circular economy in the food supply chain means reducing the amount of waste generated in the food system, reuse of food, utilization of by-products and food waste, nutrient recycling, and changes in diet toward more diverse and more efficient food patterns. Alongside this, the government should take more strategic action in food security, when food loss and waste have risen by 30–40% over the last 10 years [
82]. The authors would recommend the recent approach of circular economy through waste-to-energy (WtE) generation, which is focusing on cleaner technology [
83,
84]. Possible alternatives are available, including anaerobic digestion (Pramanik et al. [
85]), gasification, incineration (Zamli et al. [
86]), and landfill gas (LFG) recovery waste.
This study’s results significantly contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are part of the UN’s 2030 agenda and plan of action for sustainable development (Aman et al. [
59], Paulson et al. [
60]), which aims to influence responsible consumption and production. With an emphasis on responsible resource usage, production, and consumption, including waste management, the SDGs play a crucial role in Malaysia, to be achieved by 2030. The government may consider the WtE generation, in this case, to fulfill the goal. The government can also integrate the Internet-of-Things (IoT) tools for monitoring waste management at all levels, improving productivity, and providing economic solutions [
87].