Congratulations to HEAL graduate Dr Paul van der Werf for his successful PhD defense!
- Post by: Moe
- 8:27PM Nov 20, 2018
- No Comment
Congratulations to HEAL’s Dr Paul van der Werf for his successful PhD defense on his research focusing on methods to reduce the production of food waste.
London households throw out $600/year of avoidable food waste, worth up to $100 million/year of lost food value. In shadow of the City’s green bin implementation decision making process, a survey examined why people throw out food, which in turn informed a food waste reduction intervention.
A “Reduce Food Waste, Save Money” intervention, which combined elements of behavioural economics (nudging the desire to reduce monetary loss) and the theory of planned behaviour (strengthening perceived behavioural control), was developed and tested, Treatment household food waste disposal decreased by 31% and this was significantly greater than for control households.
This research is contributing to national, provincial, and municipal food waste reduction policy. In London it is being used to help develop a ‘smart’ green bin program
Check out the video below to view Paul’s thesis presentation.