Exploring the application of social media in food waste campaigns and interventions: A systematic scoping review of the academic and grey literature

Consumer food waste is a growing issue that has a severe impact on the economy and the environment. Social media is an online communication tool that has the potential to reach a large proportion of the population with relative ease. However, it is unclear whether social media can be used to encourage consumers to reduce their food waste. To determine how social media is currently being used in food waste reduction campaigns and interventions and whether it could be an effective communication tool to discourage consumer food waste. Eight academic databases from multiple disciplines were searched in combination with grey literature. Inclusion criteria were consumer-focused food waste interventions or campaigns that used social media as part of their strategy and had food waste reduction as a main outcome. Exclusion criteria included the use of websites or mobile applications rather than social media, non-English papers, and review papers. Seventeen studies were included. Social media was found to have a positive impact in eleven studies e.g. raising awareness or contributing to consumer food waste reduction. Multifaceted interventions or campaigns (rather than those that used social media alone) were found to be more effective at increasing consumer understanding of food waste and/or producing initial behaviour changes such as taking leftovers for lunch, for example. Most of the included interventions or campaigns did not report a social media strategy or self-defined targets to achieve prior to beginning the campaign. Social media data included in the papers focused mainly on social media metrics (e.g. reach of the posts) rather than tangible outcomes from consumers who saw the posts. Multifaceted approaches that combine social media with other behaviour change strategies are recommended to encourage consumer behaviour change in relation to food waste reduction. Social media needs to be further explored for consumer food waste reduction, with a focus on the importance of comprehensive plans and strategies prior to beginning the campaign or intervention.