An evaluation of the role of government in promoting household participation towards food waste management in housing estates

Abstract

Food waste is a worldwide environmental issue and it is impeding sustainability with the associated negative environmental consequences. The problem is by no means unique to Hong Kong as well. In 2020, food waste represents one-third of the municipal solid waste in the city; and among the average 3,255 tonnes of daily food waste discarded, 76% are domestic food waste at the household level and most of which is avoidable. There are rising concerns about the depletion of the city’s landfill capacity. The government have realized that it is essential to mobilize the community of different sectors and stakeholders to actively engage in recycling waste which can be utilized as resource circulation. Starting from the launch of the Sustainable Development Strategy for Hong Kong in 2005, the government outlined a series of objectives and targets of recycling food waste in subsequent strategic plans. The Environment Bureau is responsible for policy formulation to promote sustainable waste management through broad-based community participation. However, the rate of recycled food waste remains low while the food waste generated remains high after years. This showed that the general public have yet to establish good food waste management practices. Hence, this paper would evaluate the role of government in promoting household participation towards food waste management. In addition, this paper aims to examine the attitudinal, behavioural and motivation factors that may induce households to actively participate in recycling food waste and shed light for future policy design to target on these aspects. To address the research aims and objectives, a questionnaire was designed and conducted to investigate household perceptions on recycling issues and quantify the relationships between the constructs that affect the household recycling behaviour. Data collected were analyzed by applying Ajzen’s model of Planned Behaviour. The findings highlighted that attitudes and perceived behavioural control were the significant predictor of behavioural intention for food waste recycling. The survey results facilitated strategy formulation within the context of regulatory and institutional framework empowering households to foster behavioural change for sustainable waste management and keep household food waste to a minimum. More importantly, the study could shed light on designing future operational interventions for waste management planning in the long term locally and adopt recycling programmes in a massive scale.