Did COVID-19 influence food waste habits? A comparison of Polish and British households

Culture and customer behaviour play an important role in managing food waste. The responsible involvement of householders in purchasing, storing, and consuming food are indeed required not only to produce less waste but also to manage it rationally. In this paper, a research study across two countries was conducted to verify the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and of associated public health measures, on household food waste habits. Food consumption behaviours (like planning meals and food purchases) during COVID-19 in UK and Poland were assessed, to identify environmentally friendly practices that could be adopted on a stable basis. The results indicate that lockdowns did not influence food-management habits significantly in both countries. However, during lockdown periods, respondents showed a change in their purchasing methods in the UK, where survey respondents bought more online (51.20%). The opposite was observed in Poland, where there was no noticeable increase in online shopping (84.07%). The promotion of positive habits in food purchases and environmentally friendly practices such as food sharing and using advanced technology to optimise food management could be beneficial. Our study also paves avenues for future research on the environmental impact of consumers’ food habits after COVID-19.