Sharing as an Antidote to Food Waste: Understanding Food Rescuing Apps and Their Users

Abstract

The ever-increasing amount of wasted food has emerged as one of the most significant sustainability challenges of our time. The predominant explanation for the amount of food wasted is often attributed to consumers' behaviour and an unsustainable food supply chain. In recent times, the possibilities of technological advancements have become central to the food waste discussion. One solution would be food rescuing apps as an emerging digital food sharing platform model. Therefore, the practice of participating on food rescuing apps and the businesses’ and customers' behaviours and practices as users of those apps are examined through a practice theoretical perspective. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with businesses and customers, the underlying patterns of the studied practice were identified based on a range of derived indicators in order to define the existing typologies for the users of these digital platforms. Contrary to the claims of previous studies, our findings show how not only financial aspects but especially environmental concerns have a significant impact on both sides’ participation on food rescuing apps. Furthermore, a strong influence of spatialtemporal aspects on the practices is identified for both businesses and customers. The study contributes to a greater practice theoretical understanding of the app users, which as a result, helps the app providers to attain insights and potentially improve their services.