Include social norms
Social norms matter more than people tend to think. We are influenced by what we think others are doing. In our research, we find that adding social norm messages in a food waste intervention can strengthen its effectiveness.
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Academic papers that support the role of social norms in food waste interventions are:
van Herpen, E., Wijnen, T., Quested, T., Reynolds, C., & Sharda, N. (2023). Convenient tools and social norms: Measuring the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce household food waste. Journal of Cleaner Production, 429, 139604.
van Geffen, L. E., van Herpen, E., Goedegebure, R. P., & van Trijp, H. C. (2025). A field study on the reduction of household grain waste: The effects of social norms and measuring cups. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 222, 108405.
We used e-mails (first paper) and stickers on measuring cups (second paper) to convey the social norm message.
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