Keep good food out of your garbage pail and kitchen sink don't feed high-priced human food to hogs or chickens : waste no food!
The pattern
This still is filed under Civilian war-duty equate.
Define
A civilian act (saving, making, staying quiet) is framed as the same duty as the front.
Mechanism
Moral equate. The small act inherits the gravity of the large one. The ask is ordinary. The meaning is not.
Verdict
We need mass compliance on an unglamorous behavior and can honestly tie it to a shared stake.
Why it works
Uses a shocking monetary statistic to frame the scale of the problem. It then breaks down the abstract idea of 'waste' into highly specific, relatable household behaviors (overeating, burning food, serving too much).
Steal this when
When you need to define a vague negative behavior (like 'wasting') by calling out the specific, everyday actions that cause it.