From Order to Impact: Consumer Perception and Educational Strategies to Reduce Food Delivery Waste

• Grant number: 25/09773-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Production Management
• Principal Investigator: Vivian Lara dos Santos Silva Rossignolo
• Grantee: Victória Brucieri Zutin
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/11967-6 - Center of Sciences for the Development CCD - Solutions for post-consumer waste: packaging and products, AP.CCD

Abstract

This Scientific Initiation Project is linked to the ongoing Postdoctoral Project (FAPESP 2023/13997-5), conducted under Platform 5 of the CCD Circula Program (FAPESP 2021/11967-6), entitled "Co-creation, Education, and Dissemination of Solutions for Reducing Solid Waste in Food Services". The project is grounded in the premise that waste is a design flaw and aims to investigate how different links within food systems - particularly food delivery - can be reimagined as spaces for circular innovation, learning, and collective engagement. From this perspective, food delivery represents a strategic link in the discussion on urban solid waste (USW): it is simultaneously a critical point of waste generation (plastic packaging, disposables, food scraps), a space of articulation among multiple actors (consumers, platforms, restaurants, packaging suppliers), and a privileged entry point for understanding consumer perceptions regarding the issue. This Scientific Initiation project will directly contribute to one of the main axes of the Postdoctoral research, focused on conducting a qualitative exploratory study through a panel-based survey. The goal is to capture consumer perceptions, values, and potential motivations in relation to waste generation in food delivery and sustainable alternatives. The survey will be conducted in two complementary stages: Stage One: Profiling participants and identifying their consumption habits; and Stage Two: Monitoring food delivery habits, with emphasis on waste generated, packaging decisions, and disposal practices. By diagnosing consumer perception, the research aims to inform the development of educational campaigns focused on waste reduction, conscious packaging choices, and the promotion of more sustainable practices in food services. The student researcher will play a central role in designing the survey methodology, implementing data collection tools, analyzing the results, and co-creating educational content. This experience will significantly contribute to her scientific and critical development, fostering analytical skills, science communication, and teamwork, with a strong emphasis on the intersections between sustainability, innovation, and consumer behavior. The originality of the project lies in its integration of consumer behavior, circular innovation, and applied environmental education-focusing on a critical and underexplored link in contemporary food chains: food delivery. By combining perceptual diagnostics and consumption habit monitoring with the co-creation of communication strategies, the research proposes an innovative and transdisciplinary approach to tackling urban solid waste, aligning scientific inquiry with social engagement in a field of growing importance.