Progress 04/01/24 to 03/31/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences of this grant include (1) policy makers, leaders and staff in governmental and nongovernmental agencies at the local, state and federal levels and (2) select residents of three partner cities in the United States. By the end of this reporting period we had reached key leaders and staff in three U.S. partner cities concerning two key objectives: (1) identify and refine educational messages and materials appropriate for a household food waste reduction campaign that can meaningfully reduce the amount of wasted food created among U.S. households and (2) conduct and assess pilot household food waste reduction campaigns in three cities in the United States. With respect to objective (5), which involves developing an integrated Extension education program based upon current best practices, we were able to connect with 704 personnel in city, regional and state governments and non-governmental organizations across the United States as part of an inaugural webinar program with 44 people becoming formal members of the Consumer Food Waste Community of Practice website group. Among webinar attendees, the most frequently mentioned areas of food waste interest included consumers (21%), cooperative extension/higher education (21%), schools (12%), municipalities (11%), non-profits (9%), food retail and foodservice (7%), farm and production level (5%) and other (13%). With respect to target audience (2), we were able to reach more than 18,000 residents in one of our partner cities (Columbus, Ohio) with physically mailed messages intended to increase awareness of food waste as a source of household expenses and to encourage practices to save money by reducing food waste generation at the household level. We also delivered these messages electronically to a subset of more than 2,700 of these residents who opted in to receiving electronic messages from the City of Columbus and via door-to-door canvasing efforts for a smaller subset of these residents. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One graduate student received training on conducting household surveys and statistical evaluation techniques associated with a randomized controlled trial. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goal 1: Identify and refine educational messages and materials appropriate for a household food waste reduction campaign that can meaningfully reduce the amount of wasted food created among U.S. households. Under goal 1 during the upcoming reporting period, we will work with officials from the second and third partner cities of Denver, Colorado and Tampa Bay, Florida, to identify and refine educational messages and materials appropriate for a household food waste reduction campaign in their cities. Goal 2: Conduct and assess pilot household food waste reduction campaigns in three cities in the United States. Under goal 2 during the upcoming reporting period, we will complete the process of assessing the household food waste reduction campaign with our first partner city of Columbus, Ohio, by completing data collection and analyzing the resulting data. Planning will continue for similar efforts with the other two partner cities of Denver, Colorado and Tampa Bay, Florida. Goal 3. Anticipate challenges a national household food waste reduction campaign would encounter during a national roll out. Goal 4. Project the food waste reduction potential and cost-benefit ratio of different national strategies for a household food waste reduction campaign. For Goals 3 and 4, during the upcoming reporting period, we will begin to develop a framework for undertraining these tasks. Goal 5. Develop an integrated Extension education program based upon current best practices and refined based upon the campaign pilot study findings to prepare personnel in city, regional and state governments and non-governmental organizations to implement effective consumer food waste prevention campaigns. For Goal 5 during the upcoming reporting period, we will fully summarize the evaluations gathered at the end of the first year's webinar series. We will continue the webinar series in September 2025. Over the summer, the Rutgers team will be facilitating interviews to assess individuals' interest in joining a consumer food waste community of practice focused on developing confidence and competency in conducting and assessing household food waste reduction campaigns. The interviews will be conducted via Zoom. From these interviews we hope to gauge interest in an active community of practice in addition to the monthly webinars. Questions included in these interviews will address how other communities of practice have been successful, what participants are looking to gain by participating and how to structure the community of practice to make it successful. We will also work with a key non-governmental organization in the food waste space to canvass for more potential participants for the Community of Practice.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Identify and refine educational messages and materials appropriate for a household food waste reduction campaign that can meaningfully reduce the amount of wasted food created among U.S. households. Under goal 1 during this reporting period, we worked with officials from the city of Columbus, Ohio, our first partner city, to identify and refine educational messages and materials appropriate for a household food waste reduction campaign. We selected materials from the 'Save More Than Food' campaign, which had been developed by the Central Ohio Food Waste Initiative, that were then updated and refined. A series of three postcards were created where all messaging was available in three languages (English, Spanish, Somali). The first messages presented a challenge to undertake six actions that support food waste reduction (putting dates on leftovers, sticking to a grocery list, keeping older food items at the front of the refrigerator, eating leftovers, freezing food that won't be eaten in a timely fashion, noting items in storage before shopping). The second message provided tips on storing dairy, leafy greens, fruit and fresh meat and seafood. The third message provided information about date labels. All messages emphasized how much money the average household spends on food that is never eaten (~$2000/year for a family of four). Goal 2: Conduct and assess pilot household food waste reduction campaigns in three cities in the United States. Under goal 2 during this reporting period, we began the process of conducting and assessing a household food waste reduction campaign with our first partner city of Columbus, Ohio. Planning was begun for efforts with the other two partner cities of Denver, Colorado and Tampa Bay, Florida. Goal 3. Anticipate challenges a national household food waste reduction campaign would encounter during a national roll out. Goal 4. Project the food waste reduction potential and cost-benefit ratio of different national strategies for a household food waste reduction campaign. No progress to report under Goals 3 and 4 for this reporting period. Goal 5. Develop an integrated Extension education program based upon current best practices and refined based upon the campaign pilot study findings to prepare personnel in city, regional and state governments and non-governmental organizations to implement effective consumer food waste prevention campaigns. Under Goal 5 during the reporting period, we developed and delivered a webinar series that showcases the efforts of Extension groups, university researchers, and other leaders in the food and sustainability industry who are making significant strides in combating consumer food waste. This year was the first year of the webinar series and it ran from October 2024 to May 2025 (the reporting period ends on March 31, 2025 and numbers will reflect only the reporting period). Over the course of these 8 months the series featured leaders in the sustainability industry such as Too Good to Go and Unilever, leaders in food waste innovations such as ReFED, leaders in municipal food waste reduction programs such as the City of Denver and Washington State, and many more. Topics included community education, food donation, food safety, state and city waste reduction programs, industry food waste prevention campaigns, food recovery apps, and food waste innovations. During the reporting period, the webinar series connected with 704 personnel in city, regional and state governments and non-governmental organizations across the United States as part of an inaugural webinar program with 44 people becoming formal members of the Consumer Food Waste Community of Practice website group. Throughout the Consumer Food Waste Webinar Series, the audience was encouraged to complete surveys via Zoom poll or Qualtrics. These surveys were conducted to gain participant feedback. The first webinar in October launched with strong initial engagement, attracting a diverse audience across sectors. During the launch event Zoom poll, participants were asked about their familiarity with existing consumer food waste campaigns. Of the 122 respondents, 16% (n=19 respondents) reported being very familiar, 63% (n=74 respondents) were somewhat familiar, and 21% (n=29 respondents) were not familiar at all, indicating the series drew both seasoned professionals and newcomers to the topic. The majority of participants, 71% (n=84 respondents), indicated that their current roles involve work related to food waste, while 29% (n=35 respondents) did not. Participants represented a wide range of sectors. Outreach was most effective through the Extension Foundation, which accounted for 64% (n=124) of launch event participants, followed by Rutgers University/Ohio State University at 19% (n=36 respondents), EPA Community of Practice at 7% (n=13 respondents), USDA at 6% (n=12 respondents), and local Cooperative Extension offices at 6% (n=11 respondents). Social media and other sources accounted for the remaining 8% (n=15 respondents). The Mid-Point Qualtrics Survey showed sustained participation of individuals from multiple sectors. In this mid-point assessment, a total of 51 responses were captured. Of the 51 respondents, 49% indicated that they or their organizations were actively pursuing food waste-related programming, while 51% were not. Regarding relevance, 20% of respondents rated the webinar series "somewhat relevant," 53% rated it "relevant," and 48% rated it "very relevant." Overall, Year 1 evaluation data indicates that the Consumer Food Waste Webinar Series successfully engaged a broad audience and consistently delivered relevant content. The consistently high relevance ratings and strong interest in continuing into Year 2 demonstrate the value of this series as an educational and networking resource for professionals addressing consumer food waste. There are currently 44 members in the Consumer Food Waste Community Practice Website hosted by Extension Foundation, which is available online at https://connect.extension.org/g/cfw-cop. This website currently consists of summaries of the webinar series, a calendar of events, blog posts for each webinar summarizing the key points, and links to recordings of the webinars.
Publications
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