Cathy MarlairIn September 2025, Sapience was selected to lead the project “NAFW – Targeted Nudges to Prevent Food Waste”, a 2-year initiative of the European Commission and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) focused on reducing household food waste in the European Union. Implemented in five countries – Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, and Sweden – the NAFW project combines behavioural science, stakeholder engagement, and evidence-based interventions to better understand why food is wasted at home and identify effective ways to prevent it.
For this, Sapience works alongside Zero Waste Europe (ZWE), a European network of communities, local leaders, experts, and change agents committed to better resource use and the elimination of waste. Together, they aim to deliver actionable knowledge to support the design and implementation of effective behavioural interventions.
As part of the initiative, this post takes a closer look at where household food waste occurs, what drives it, and the different ways consumers engage with food waste.
Why the Nudges Against Food Waste Project?
Food waste continues to pose a significant sustainability challenge for Europe and the world, placing pressure on natural resources, household budgets, and climate commitments. Addressing food waste at the household level is therefore essential, not only to reduce environmental impacts but also to support more sustainable consumption patterns and progress towards broader EU climate and circular economy goals.
Understanding Household Food Waste
Where does it really come from?
Household food waste is shaped by the everyday decisions consumers make throughout their daily lives. From the choices we make in the supermarket to the way we store leftovers at home, each action plays a role in determining whether food is eaten or thrown away.
Research in this area shows that food waste is not driven by a single behaviour, but rather by a sequence of practices that occur along the food journey. It commonly identifies five distinct stages where food waste can emerge. Understanding these stages helps us see food waste not as a personal failure, but as a systemic issue shaped by habits, routines, and social norms.
By breaking down the food journey into these key stages, we can better understand where waste occurs and, more importantly, where meaningful change is possible.
Why do we waste food (without realizing it)?
Food waste is rarely a deliberate act. It is often driven by cognitive biases, emotions, and social norms that influence our everyday decisions at different stages of the food journey.
For example, people often treat food past its best before date as unsafe, relying on labels instead of their own senses. Visual imperfections also lead to food being rejected, while bulk promotions and “value-for-money” deals can encourage overbuying–and ultimately, over-wasting. At the same time, most people tend to underestimate how much food they actually throw away.
Emotions such as fear, guilt, or detachment can either discourage waste or push people to discard food “just in case”. Social expectations also play a role. The desire to be a “good provider” often leads to buying or preparing too much food, while cultural norms influence how food is valued and what gets thrown away.
Understanding these hidden drivers reveals powerful opportunities for targeted behavioural nudges that encourage more mindful and sustainable food practices.
👉 Want to dive deeper into the psychology behind food waste? Read our dedicated post: Food waste and psychological biases: why do we throw away so much food?
Who is behind food waste?
Not all households engage with food waste in the same way. Differences in awareness, attitudes, and everyday practices may shape how people behave along the food waste journey. Recognizing these differences is key to designing effective interventions that meet people where they are and support more sustainable food practices.
Research typically groups consumers into three broad profiles, based on their level of awareness and engagement with food waste:
Looking Ahead
The NAFW project takes a comparative and evidence-based approach to tackling household food waste. It aims to deliver practical solutions that work in real-life contexts by identifying key pain points, segmenting households, and testing targeted behavioural nudges. Similar approaches are already showing how small changes can make a big difference.
A powerful example is the “Look, Smell, Taste” campaign by Too Good To Go (the app that links consumers to surplus food from local retailers), which addresses widespread confusion around best before dates. Instead of relying solely on labels, the campaign encourages consumers to use their senses before discarding food, helping prevent perfectly edible food from being thrown away.
Another effective nudge is OzHarvest’s “Use It Up Tape”, implemented in Australia, which prompts households to label leftovers or soon-to-expire food, making it more visible in the fridge and more likely to be used in time.
Broader initiatives also support behaviour change. In the UK, Love Food Hate Waste, led by WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme), provides practical guidance on meal planning, portioning, food storage, and using leftovers. Seasonal campaigns such as “Feast Smart, Waste Less” focus on high-waste moments like Christmas, helping households plan better and reduce avoidable waste.
Building on these principles, the NAFW project focuses on behaviour-centred guidance and accessible tools to support smarter everyday food decisions, helping households reduce waste while saving money and resources. Through the development of communication strategies, guidelines, and practical tools to reduce food waste at scale, the project contributes directly to the European Green Deal, the Farm to Fork Strategy, and the EU’s commitment to halving food waste by 2030.