Write up by: Ziynet Boz, Ph.D.
As part of the national Food Waste Challenge funded by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the Kroger Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation, the ABE Department has completed its second round of household food and packaging waste audits through a citizen science research model.
Led by PI Dr. Ziynet Boz, with Co-PIs Dr. Catherine Campbell and Dr. Greg Kiker, the project, entitled Integrated Food Waste Management Supported by Agent-Based Modeling (IFWASTE), combines community participation with systems modeling to tackle food waste at its root.
So far, 41 households have participated across two years, recording their food and packaging waste habits using labeled collection buckets, bags, and structured daily logbooks. The effort is supported by over 25 undergraduate researchers from the USDA-funded CD-Skills REEU (Circularity and Digitalization Skills) program, who have conducted parallel waste audits and helped shape study protocols.
The collected data will be analyzed and:
· Compared to previous citizen science studies from Gainesville and Sarasota
· Validated against a simulation tool: the Integrated Food Waste (IFWASTE) agent-based model, developed by the UF team to simulate household food waste generation and identify key intervention points
“By combining hands-on data from real households with advanced modeling tools, we’re building a richer understanding of how food waste happens, and how to prevent it,” says Dr. Boz.
The study not only generates localized behavioral and material waste profiles but also contributes to a broader effort to design evidence-based policies, packaging innovations, and educational campaigns that support a more circular and resilient food system.
Integration of FFAR IFWASTE and USDA NIFA REEU projects
This project represents a true integration of research, education, and extension by combining the goals of the USDA-NIFA REEU CD-Skills Program with the FFAR-funded IFWASTE citizen science study. Undergraduate students from diverse disciplines participated in a hands-on, real-world waste audit experience that allowed them to apply sustainability principles, systems thinking, and data collection methods in a community context. These students conducted structured waste audits in parallel with the citizen science participants, learning to categorize food and packaging waste, evaluate behavioral drivers, and contribute to the refinement of data collection protocols.
Their findings not only enrich the scientific output of the study but will also help build a pipeline of future researchers and practitioners with skills in circular economy, food systems, and digitalization. In return, the student audits provided a valuable point of comparison to household-reported data, strengthening the rigor of the research. Community participants benefited from this collaboration as well, receiving guidance, clear tools, and structured support, while engaging with a university-led research initiative that directly addresses everyday sustainability challenges.
This integrated model demonstrates how citizen science, when paired with undergraduate research training and stakeholder engagement, can simultaneously advance science, enhance education, and provide actionable insights for real-world impact.
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