Our new paper has been published in Waste Management, exploring whether an awareness-raising campaign can reduce food waste in school catering. We collected data from 10 schools in Budapest, covering 52,421 prepared lunch menus, using a three-phase design: baseline waste measurement, an awareness campaign combined with surveys, and post-intervention waste measurement. The campaign (implemented in four schools) included table materials, short videos, and a QR-code-based online tracker showing daily results.
On average, students left 103 g of food per course, around 32% of the served meal. A substantial share of food also remained unserved (e.g., ordered but not collected), and overall waste was about half of the prepared food across the measurement period. Despite good reach for campaign messages—especially printed materials—the intervention did not lead to a statistically significant decrease in measured food waste.
The key takeaway is that awareness is important, but often not sufficient to close the “value–action gap.” Future efforts may need more interactive engagement, incentives, and practical changes in how school catering is organized to make waste reduction easier and more actionable.
Publication available here:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2026.115426
This research was supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office (NKFIH) (PD 142198).
András Bittsánszly PhD
