Friends of food: encouraging meal planning among young adults aged 21-34 to reduce food waste in Singapore

Abstract

This report presents the findings of Friends of Food, a communications campaign that aimed to reduce avoidable household food waste in Singapore through encouraging the practice of meal planning among young adults aged 21 to 34. Food waste is a constant issue in Singapore, and despite governmental efforts, we still see a steady increase (NEA, 2021). Thus, Friends of Food concentrates specifically on the practice of meal planning as secondary research has shown it to be effective in reducing food waste (Stefan et al., 2013). Additionally, meal planning is aligned with Singapore’s approach in food waste management, which is to first and foremost prevent wastage from the source (NEA, 2021). Guided by Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), formative research was conducted via a three-pronged approach: in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and a quantitative pre-campaign survey. The findings provided insights on the TPB constructs that predict behavioural engagement, allowing the campaign to formulate three primary goals: (1) increase target audience’s knowledge on practising meal planning and correct misconceptions about the topic, (2) guide positive attitudes toward meal planning, and (3) increase target audience’s perceived behavioural control. These constructs were used as the foundation for derivation of our impact and output objectives, as well as the campaign's multi-media strategy and subsequent executions to bring across the campaign’s key messages. Through its three phases: Let’s TACO ‘Bout Meal Planning, HapPEA Planning and Endless PASTAbilities, Friends of Food managed to achieve the majority of both its impact and output objectives, with a combined impressions of 91,445 across our owned digital channels, $52,916.28 in PR value and 545 attendees at our in-person event, Happy Home, Happy Earth. The campaign also achieved an 11.04% increase in perceived behavioural control and 13.46% increase in behavioural engagement in its intervention group.