Reducing food waste: Experimental evidence

Last registered on October 05, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Reducing food waste: Experimental evidence
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0010159
Initial registration date
October 03, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
October 05, 2022, 9:58 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Spain
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ramon Cobo Reyes
Affiliation
Georgetown University Qatar
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Gary Charness
PI Affiliation
University of California Santa Barbara
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2022-10-01
End date
2022-12-01
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
altruism
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project will study whether we can reduce food waste in restaurants by giving people the possibility of donating food to a Food Bank.

The experiment we propose is as follows.

The restaurant will offer a choice of two options:

1) Order a meal which is the normal price and the normal portion.
2) Order a meal that is only 75% as large as the usual portion, with the other 25% of the ingredients going to a food charity (e.g., the Food Bank). Customers still pay the normal price of the meal as it was a regular size meal.

We think that many people know that they won’t finish a full meal and won't take it home. We suspect that many of these people would be happy to know they weren't wasting food and would donate. All the donations would be done in terms of ingredients, not as food that has been already cooked.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Charness, Gary and Ramon Cobo Reyes. 2022. "Reducing food waste: Experimental evidence." AEA RCT Registry. October 05. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10159-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2022-10-02
Intervention End Date
2022-12-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We want to study two main outcomes:
1) the proportion of people who choose the reduced portion
2) The amount of food wasted when there is the possibility of donating the food
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The restaurant will offer a choice of two options:

1) Order a meal which is the normal price and the normal portion.
2) Order a meal that is only 75% as large as the usual portion, with the other 25% of the ingredients going to a food charity (e.g., the Food Bank). Customers still pay the normal price of the meal as it was a regular size meal.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Restaurants
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
8 restaurants
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,000 customers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4 restaurants control and 4 restaurants treated
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials