Food Waste & Upcycling: Trends & Opportunities in Sustainability

Environmental sustainability is another key issue relating to food waste concerns, as food production creates carbon emissions and uses natural resources such as water and land, so anytime food is wasted, resource use intensifies and accelerates climate change. Because food production (particularly animal farming) contributes to climate change, wasted food can be especially harmful to the environment. Rotting food in landfills can also emit methane, which is a major environmental problem.

Consumers may be concerned about how food waste affects the environment and may also be troubled by ethical issues such as wasted food that could have instead been used to feed individuals in poverty. Many companies have sustainability goals to reduce waste and carbon emissions, so they are also motivated to reduce food waste.

With a focus on “what’s next” and current consumer trends, Food Waste & Upcycling: Trends & Opportunities in Sustainability is packed with insights about consumer trends, behavior, and motivations to help foodservice operators, food producers, retailers, packaging companies, employers, and investors gauge consumer perspectives and find areas for growth in a competitive market.

Food Waste & Upcycling: Trends & Opportunities in Sustainability delivers actionable predictions and recommendations designed to guide foodservice operators, producers, retailers, and investors in making business decisions by providing data and insights about consumer behavior and what consumers think about food waste and upcycled ingredients.

Scope

Food Waste & Upcycling: Trends & Opportunities in Sustainability is the go-to source for a complete understanding of U.S. consumer trends regarding food waste and food upcycling. This report combines Packaged Facts’ extensive monitoring of the food and beverage market with proprietary surveys, and evaluates current trends and future directions for marketing and retailing, along with consumer patterns during the pandemic and across the broader food and beverage market.

This Packaged Facts report analyses trends regarding food waste throughout the supply chain and the ways in which consumers view food waste. This report also examines the dynamics of the current landscape of food waste and how it is related to environmental sustainability and upcycling of ingredients that would otherwise be thrown away.

Consumer demographics, perceptions, motivations, and behaviors are examined as pertaining to concerns about food waste and the environment. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers are also analyzed (in a broad sense), including in the context of food waste and upcycling.

The reasons for and implications of shifts in consumer perception and behavior are analyzed in the context of future market opportunities.

Additionally, Food Waste & Upcycling: Trends & Opportunities in Sustainability has dozens of tables showcasing numerical survey data on consumer demographics and psychographics and numerous marketing photographs. This report goes in-depth on COVID-19 trends affecting the food and beverage market.

Report Methodology

The information contained in Food Waste & Upcycling: Trends & Opportunities in Sustainability was developed from primary and secondary research sources. Primary research includes interviews with food and beverage market experts; participation in and attendance at food industry events; and extensive internet canvassing.

Primary research also includes national online consumer polls of U.S. adult consumers (age 18+) conducted on an ongoing basis by Packaged Facts to analyze attitudes of consumers and their relevant food and beverage preferences.

Survey data from MRI-Simmons are used to analyze the demographics and psychographics of consumers.

Supplementing Packaged Facts’ exclusive survey is analysis of the 2022 Food & Health Survey conducted by the International Food Information Council, which analyzes consumer food purchase decisions and diet and lifestyle choices.