GewissensBISS 3.0

About 50% of all food waste is generated by households. Efforts to reduce food waste have had little success so far. Not least for this reason, the Institute for Waste and Recycling Management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, in collaboration with Tafel Austria and the Natural History Museum Vienna, developed the traveling exhibition “GewissensBISS – harvested.bought.thrown away” on food waste prevention in 2023. In its very first year, it reached more than 5,000 students. The traveling exhibition has already shown great success in an initial evaluation and has been proven to expand visitors’ knowledge and spark interest in the topic among students aged 11 to 17. A separate exhibition for Vienna, focusing on Viennese schools, is now to be produced, while simultaneously analyzing the extent to which visiting the exhibition leads to increased awareness among visitors and, ideally, to behavioral change in their social circles as well. The following research questions will be addressed within the scope of the project. 1) To what extent does the exhibition demonstrate success among visitors by showing a noticeable increase in knowledge and/or a willingness to change behavior? 2) Can a change in behavior within households be expected following the implementation of awareness-raising classroom activities? 3) Can the reach of knowledge transfer be increased by providing targeted information to parents in advance?