No Waste by Default: Nudging to Prevent Food Waste in Restaurants

Abstract

Nudge techniques concern any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people's behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. In order to tackle the problem of food waste in restaurants, a nudge intervention was developed to increase the demand of “doggy bag†in a restaurant close to Milan. In the intervention the default rule was manipulated to automatically provide with a doggy bag the customers who had uneaten food in their plates, unless they actively choose to opt out. Data showed that, in the experimental condition, the number of doggy bags demanded was more than doubled compared with the control one suggesting the effectiveness of the intervention.