ICT tools for food management and waste prevention at the consumer level

It is part of the EU research project REFRESH, which aims to contribute to the goal of reducing food waste across Europe. A literature search in 2018 resulted in only twelve papers that focus on the topic of apps in relation to consumers’ sustainability behaviour. The scarce evidence indicates that apps can be effective in raising consumer awareness indicated, but not much is known about the effects of using apps on food waste behaviour of consumers. Therefore, two subtasks were executed within task 1.5: an inventory of available ICT tools and a consumer focus group study. Via an online search in 2016 & 2017, suggestions from REFRESH project partners and tools mentioned in publications, an inventory was made of existing ICT based tools for food management and waste reduction by consumers. The functionalities of these apps were analysed for the different phases of the household food logistics. The aim of this inventory was to give an overview of existing apps and examples of the diversity of functionality of the apps. Based on the criteria of a high number of installations or novelty, three apps from this inventory were selected for use in the consumer focus group study. All apps had different features. The aim of the focus group discussion was to gain insight in how consumers experienced the use of the apps and to what extent using the apps led to a change in self-reported behaviour.