Institutional and Individual Effects of Greenwashing on Food Waste

Greenwashing is when organizations deceive consumers by making false claims regarding the environmental advantages their products have over other products. Institutional, greenwashing leads to “individual greenwashing”, which perpetuates the problem of people believing they are environmentally conscious when, in reality, they are not. This is evident in individuals’ behavior regarding food waste; therefore, our study examines the effects of individual greenwashing on food waste. It uses a mixed-methods approach to demonstrate how institutional barriers socialize patrons into routines, making it difficult to implement sustainable practices. We conducted a plate-waste audit at a university over an eight-day period, collecting 1443 pounds (≈654.5 kg) of food waste from 7775 patrons. The audit demonstrated that individuals generated 0.79 ounces (≈22.4 g) less plate waste when they controlled their portions than when the institution controlled their portions. Our surveys revealed that only 15.6% of patrons were aware of composting options; however, 83.3% were willing to compost. The field experiment increased patrons’ awareness of the compost bin, creating a 2.5 percentage point increase in usage, resulting in 13.4 pounds (≈6.1 kg) of waste being diverted from the landfill. Therefore, institutions should recognize their role in socializing individuals to adopt environmentally sound food-waste habits.