Automatic System For FW Assessment At Household
This tool, which is tailored to everyday use, supports the measurement of food waste in households and is intended to improve and validate existing methods such as surveys.
The tool includes a set of features to measure and estimate various types of food waste generated in households. The developed tool will be demonstrated on a representative sample of households to ensure its reliability and applicability.
The core of this tool is a user-friendly scale complemented by a dedicated application for cell phones that enables seamless data collection and transfer to a centralized database. The data collected is then analysed and the results obtained are extrapolated to a wider population, allowing a more comprehensive evaluation of the parameters traditionally determined with questionnaires and interviews.
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This toolbox was developed by JSI for structured and reliable household food waste monitoring. The approach combines a Bluetooth-enabled smart scale, a mobile application, and a cloud-based platform into an integrated methodology for collecting food waste data directly at the point of disposal.
The toolbox enables users to measure food waste quantities and add contextual information such as food category, avoidability, disposal route, timestamps, and photographs. Compared to conventional approaches such as questionnaires or food diaries, the methodology supports more standardized and data-rich reporting through direct weight measurement and digital data collection.
The mobile application guides users through the reporting process, communicates with the smart scale and securely transfers collected data to a centralized cloud database for further analysis and reporting.
The toolbox and methodology were tested through pilots in Slovenia, Portugal, Hungary and Estonia. The first scientific publication describing the methodology and pilot validation results has been published in Resources, Conservation & Recycling Advances: “Smart scale toolbox for household food waste estimation” https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcradv.2026.200317
