A Behaviour Change Intervention Case Study
Key Points
- Food waste is a major contributor to climate change.
- The most common reason for fresh fruit and vegetables being wasted in UK homes is because it is not eaten in time.
- Storing fresh produce in the optimal way can help to extend product life, maximising the time that people have available to use it before it goes off.
Summary
- WRAP has developed behaviour change interventions (a ‘Kit’ or suite of interventions) to prompt people to change the way they store fresh produce, which was piloted in different areas across the UK.
- The Kit improved the way recipients store most of their fruit and vegetables.
- Improvements in storage behaviour were driven by improvements in knowledge in many cases.
- However, for some participants, and some specific products (notably apples and oranges), a knowledge-behaviour gap was identified, where improved knowledge of correct storage did not lead to improved storage behaviour.
The Challenge
320,000 tonnes of edible fresh fruit and 1.3million tonnes of edible fresh vegetables and salad are wasted in UK homes each year, with an estimated worth of £3.8 billion. Approximately £2.2 billion of this is wasted because it is not eaten in time.
We know fresh produce spoilage is linked to its perishability, which is exacerbated by being stored in sub-optimal conditions. For example, apples last almost 70 days longer in the fridge than in ambient conditions. Yet, despite this, around half the UK population are unaware that storing apples in the fridge extends their life.
The challenge, therefore, was to develop and pilot interventions that prompted people to improve how they store fresh produce, to prolong its life, thereby making it stay fresher for longer
Our Approach
To address the challenge, WRAP developed a behaviourally-informed, scalable suite of tools to prompt people to correctly store fresh produce. These tools were packaged as an intervention Kit, which was piloted with over 4,000 people in the UK.
Kits were distributed via events, door knocking activities, staff engagement campaigns, direct post and community fridges in collaboration with a number of local authority and other partners. People were given Kits upon completion of an initial survey. A follow-up survey was sent out four weeks later to enable a before and after comparison to be made.
Contents of the kit
Where the kits were distributed
The results
- 35% of Kit recipients improved their overall storage behaviour, meaning that for at least one fruit or vegetable item, they changed where they stored items from a sub-optimal to the optimal location after receiving the Kit.
- Improvements in storage behaviour were driven by improvements in knowledge in many cases. Before receiving the Kit, many people did not know that it is better to keep most fresh produce in the fridge (with the exception of onions, bananas and whole pineapple) to keep it fresher for longer.
- However, improved knowledge did not always lead to improved storage behaviour. This knowledge-behaviour gap is consistent with previous research. In some cases, behaviour was influenced by environmental influences such as having sufficient fridge space and competing motivations such as a preference for consuming fruit at ambient temperatures.
- Whilst improvements in apple and orange storage were found among many recipients, these were also the two products for which there was the greatest resistance to change, suggesting that different or additional interventions would be required to achieve greater change for these products.
Conclusions
The Kit works. The findings indicate that the intervention has succeeded overall, with clear improvements in knowledge and behaviour.
Changing storage behaviour is complex. Some people’s knowledge of optimal storage increased after receiving the Kit, yet despite this, they continued to store items in suboptimal locations.
Apple and orange storage is difficult to improve. Whilst some people started storing apples and oranges in the fridge, many continued to keep them outside the fridge. Two key reasons for this were that people (incorrectly) believed that apples and oranges last longer outside the fridge, and that even when knowing that they should be refrigerated, they continued to store them outside the fridge (due to competing motivations including learned habits and personal preferences).
More targeted interventions and delivery may have greater impact - particularly for specific products or audiences. However, the universal rollout approach employed in this pilot does work - indicating that a similar approach could be scaled in the future.
The success of this intervention would be further enhanced if deployed alongside others, which could help to overcome competing motivational barriers.
To find out more about this project, read the full report, or enquire about working with WRAP please visit:
https://wrap.org.uk/what-we-do/our-services/citizen-behaviour-change
