RULESSWASTE has reached an important milestone with the completion of Deliverable D2.1, the project’s food waste diagnosis across the selected rural case studies.
This deliverable consolidates the first evidence base of the project and provides a clearer understanding of how food waste is perceived, where it may arise and which actors can contribute to future solutions.
The diagnosis was developed through a mixed-method approach combining 224 household surveys, 17 interviews with key food-system actors and 5 discussion groups involving 41 participants. In total, 58 agents were engaged across the territories, with findings validated in a contrast session held in June 2026.
A diagnosis rooted in territory
The work focuses on three archetypal rural zones in Asturias, covering five reference municipalities: Gozón, Carreño, Tineo, Salas and Valdés.
These territories represent different rural food-system configurations: a peri-urban coastal tourism area, an inland agri-food production area and a north-western fishing-village coastal area. Together, they provide a basis for understanding food waste not as a single issue, but as a phenomenon shaped by local context, economic activity, seasonality and territorial structure.
Where food waste is perceived
One of the main findings of the diagnosis is that food waste is perceived mainly in the middle of the chain.
Hospitality and food service, together with retail and distribution, emerge as the most frequently identified hotspots, both mentioned by 42% of respondents. Households are also relevant, but the diagnosis points to a delicate gap: many people do not recognise food waste as something that happens in their own homes, even when domestic causes such as buying too much or lack of planning are frequently mentioned.
Building a basis for action
D2.1 does not close the project’s intervention design. Instead, it provides the evidence needed to inform the next phase.
The findings will guide the design of the RULESSWASTE platform, education and training actions, awareness campaigns and the evaluation framework. They also help identify the actors, behaviours and barriers that must be considered if future solutions are to be useful, realistic and socially accepted.
Because reducing food waste starts with evidence — but only becomes meaningful when that evidence is transformed into action.
