Organic food is often perceived as being more environmentally friendly than non-organic food due to its production methods. However, little is known about how consumers treat organic food compared to non-organic food when it comes to waste. This study aims to fill this gap by examining consumer waste aversion towards organic and non-organic food. The results of four studies show that controlling for perceived price differences, consumers are less averse to wasting organic food than non-organic food. This finding holds across both healthy and unhealthy food. The lower waste aversion towards organic food is driven in part by the decreased perception of environmental harm associated with wasting organic food. These findings suggest that consumers’ perception that a product is sustainable and more environmentally friendly (organic vs. non-organic) may have surprising effects in the food disposal stage, potentially diminishing their reluctance to waste food, a topic that warrants further research.

由于其生产方法，有机食品通常被认为比非有机食品更环保。然而，在浪费方面，与非有机食品相比，消费者如何对待有机食品却知之甚少。本研究旨在通过调查消费者对有机和非有机食品的浪费厌恶程度来填补这一空白。四项研究的结果表明，在控制感知价格差异的情况下，消费者比非有机食品更不愿意浪费有机食品。这一发现适用于健康和不健康的食品。人们对有机食品的浪费厌恶程度降低，部分原因是人们对浪费有机食品造成的环境危害的认识下降。这些发现表明，消费者对产品可持续且更环保（有机与非有机）的看法可能在食品处理阶段产生令人惊讶的影响，可能会降低他们对浪费食品的不愿意，这是一个值得进一步研究的话题。