PhD Student

Email: couragekrah@yahoo.com

Title: Household Food Waste in Ireland: Assessment of the Environmental and Economic Burdens

Supervisors: Dr. Anushree Priyadarshini and Dr. Paul Hynds

Brief
This research seeks to quantify the volumes of household food waste generated across Ireland through a formalised, cross-sectional online survey targeting all 26 counties to ensure a representative sample.

The study will identify clusters of waste generation (spatiotemporal, occupational, and demographic). Optimised Generalised Linear Models (GLMs) will be applied to characterise these clusters in relation to demographics (age, gender, location, education, income), geographic distribution, and seasonal variations. Sensitivity and scenario analyses (e.g., diet switching, climate change, post-COVID working arrangements, and post-Brexit food imports) will provide additional insights into food waste origins.

The environmental and economic impacts of household food waste will be assessed across categories such as greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), land use, and water use. End-of-life scenarios, will be modelled using OpenLCA software to evaluate the environmental impacts of the food waste. Additionally, life cycle costing (LCC) will quantify the energy and material flow costs at each stage, aligned with current environmental legislation and CO₂ emission targets.

Notable Milestones, Presentations, and Publications:

• Publication
  Household Food Waste Generation in High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review and Pooled Analysis Between 2010 and 2022.
  DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.143375
• Recent presentation
  Poster Presentations Understanding Household Food Waste in Ireland: A Data-Driven Segmentation Approach at  IFSTI, 52nd Annual Research Conference, UCD, 11th December 2024.
• Poster Presentations Understanding Household Food Waste in Ireland: A Data-Driven Segmentation Approach at TU Dublin 15th Annual Graduate Research Symposium, 4^th December,
• Conference(s)

Stakeholder discussions at the “Towards halving food waste in Europe Conference” in the Netherlands 19 June 2024