DOI: 10.31025/2611-4135/2026.19596 ISSN: 2611-4135

Effects of a gamified self-monitoring app on household food waste reduction

Yasuko Seta, Hajime Yamakawa, Tomoko Okayama, Kohei Watanabe, Maki Nonomura
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Food waste is a global issue, with approximately half of this waste occurring at the consumer stage. In this study, we focused on refrigerator management behaviors in Japan and conducted an intervention study involving 126 households assigned to intervention and control groups, based on the Motivation–Opportunity–Ability (MOA) framework. Four target behaviors were established: “searching for food that should be used sooner,” “moving such food to visible places,” “using food that should be used sooner,” and “finishing meals.” To promote these behaviors and reduce food waste, a gamified self-monitoring intervention using a behavior-recording app was implemented. The study included three two-week measurement periods: a baseline period, an intervention period, and a follow-up period conducted three months after the intervention. Food waste was measured using a cloud-based automatic weighing system that recorded data every hour, and participants were instructed to separate avoidable food waste and dispose of it in designated bins. The average weekly food waste per household decreased by 190 g (45%) in the intervention group and by 60 g (13%) in the control group, corresponding to a 32 percentage-point difference between groups. A general linear model (GLM) with bootstrap inference, controlling for baseline food waste, indicated a statistically significant reduction in food waste in the intervention group compared with the control group. Among six representative behavioral indicators, four showed significant intervention effects. However, no significant associations were observed between behavioral changes and changes in food waste in the main effects model. More than 90% of participants in the intervention group used the app five or more days per week, ...

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