Household food wastes in Morocco: extent of, drivers of and environmental policy integration for sustainable consumption

Food waste reduction is an essential solution to guarantee food security and to achieve sustainable development goals, especially promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns that lead to attainment of the twelfth Sustainable Development Goal. Although a number of quantitative studies have explored food wastage, few have focused on analysing the main factors contributing to the issue. Given that Morocco, as a member of the United Nations, is committed to halving the per capita food waste at the consumer level by 2030, designing a lever for action to reduce food waste at the household level is crucial and is a top priority. So, many questions, such as the following, need to be answered: What are drivers of food waste generation? How could they influence food habits? Does being aware of the importance of sustainable consumption influence households to change their behaviour? The aim of this study is to analyse food waste rates associated with seven commodity groups among 256 Moroccan households. Results indicated that the most influential food waste generation driver was social class. Moreover, it was noted that consumers wasted food even if they were aware of the problem, and even if they mentioned adopting good eating habits. We therefore proposed an innovative environmental policy integration, named "Culture of Personal Food Governance", that was based on three levels of action: regulating, raising awareness and monitoring. The results obtained will guide the scientific community, decision-makers and civil society to establish training and awareness protocols adapted to the Mediterranean context, or even to devise an international multi-stakeholder strategy against household food wastage.