Internet and social networks to hinder food waste: Responsible consumption practices in the digital age

Abstract

National and international research on food waste confirm how it is relevant to hinder food waste, including in domestic consumption contexts. In this respect, responsible and sustainable behavioral styles are fundamental to reduce food wastage. To limit the level of waste and set in motion re-distributive mechanisms of food surpluses, practices have been implemented facilitating enabling environments such as internet platforms, which promote what is known as "gifts" in the framework of collaborative consumption. The key words that characterize these online practices to reduce food waste are solidarity, sociability, trust and reciprocity, "working together" in order to cooperate. The aim of this paper is to implement an analysis which will allow an understanding of how this collaborative consumption, to be understood as a component of the wider field of the sharing economy, fosters re-distribution practices of food surpluses. In this case, added value consists of social capital aimed at collective welfare