Identification of different user types for designing household food waste interventions
Open accessAbstract
To date, designers have developed various interventions to support users in reducing their household food waste. When designing food waste interventions, it is essential to have a clear understanding of target users’ characteristics and consider the diversity in these characteristics. Although there are studies exploring user diversity in the context of sustainable behaviours, the literature lacks studies investigating food waste as a case. This paper explores user diversity in household food waste behaviour and identifies four user types that need to be considered when designing food waste interventions: Conservers, Considerates, Reluctants, and Prodigals. It further gives suggestions on how designers can select target user types and interventions according to their characteristics. It concludes that a design team should target all of the user types in a target population as much as possible and use a combination of different interventions types to create an impactful solution.
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Eco-feedback has shown to provide a starting point and motivation to act but is expected to perform better if accuracy, specificity, and a combination of persuasive strategies are combined.
“Eco-feedback has shown to provide a starting point and motivation to act but is expected to perform better if accuracy, specificity, and a combination of persuasive strategies are combined [see also Coskun (2021)].”
From Eco-Feedback for Food Waste Reduction in a Student Residence (2021) · cites this paper as Coskun (2021)
The Introduction (page unavailable) says technological food-waste interventions can increase awareness and trigger self-reflection, which supports the idea of a starting point for action. Section 4.2 (page unavailable) suggests that combining a waste diary with food sharing may influence more user types. Neither passage establishes that eco-feedback performs better when it is more accurate or specific, or when combined with persuasive strategies. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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- Authors
- Coskun, A.
- Affiliations
- Koc University - Arcelik Research Center for Creative Industries (KUAR), Koc University, Zekeriyakoy, İstanbul, Turkey
- Venue
- International Journal of Sustainable Engineering
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2021-02-16
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 609-617
- ISSN
- 1939-7038 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-7046
- OpenAlex
- W3131209615
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 2.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Sustainable Engineering (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
- Keywords
- household food waste, food waste reduction, user types, user heterogeneity, design interventions, sustainable behavior, behavior change, sustainable design
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