Do stakeholders have the same concerns about anti-food waste law in China? Using big data from social media

As an important issue in global sustainable development, food waste and related waste management is an essential way to achieve China's “double carbon” goal and a critical factor in reaching global climate goals. To address the issue of food waste, the Chinese government issued the Anti-Food Waste Law (AFWL) in 2021. The implementation of the policy has had an impact on public life and sparked intense disputes on social media platforms. Based on Sina Weibo data, this study analyzed the connection between the main stakeholders and the AFWL from the multi-stage, multi-subject, and dynamic information perspective to clarify the current status of the AFWL implementation and then propose policy recommendations. The results show that public attention to AFWL is positively correlated with local economic development; the influence of integrated media accounts is more significant than that of specific food media accounts; stakeholders show a more consistent discourse tendency, but each has its focus according to the functions of each stakeholder. To promote anti-food waste efforts, the following policy recommendations are proposed: refine existing standards and develop localized policies, strengthen the guidance of opinion leaders and information monitoring in social media, set standards to regulate corporate food marketing models and promote digital marketing, and gradually cultivate consumers' awareness of food waste reduction. The study provides direction for optimizing AFWL in China, and the framework can be applied to other policy studies.