Saving food - with Leibniz research

13-Jul-2023 - Germany

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Every year, 710,000 tons of food are disposed of in Germany; only a third of this ends up at food banks, although the need for rescued food has rarely been so great. A new algorithm is intended to remedy the situation.

11.07.2023 - News - ZEW - Leibniz-Centre for European Economic Research - Economics, Social Sciences, Spatial Sciences - Projects

Researchers at ZEW Mannheim in cooperation with Tafel Deutschland e.V. show how to make food distribution fairer and more efficient with the help of a distribution algorithm and thus save food.

In Germany, 710,000 tons of food are disposed of every year. Volunteers at the food banks save about one third of this and distribute it to those in need. However, due to inefficient food distribution, the potential is not fully exploited. In a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), researchers from ZEW Mannheim in cooperation with Tafel Deutschland e.V. show how to make food distribution fairer and more efficient with the help of a distribution algorithm, thereby saving food.

"So far, some distribution points are not able to meet the consumption needs of their customers, while the available donations in other distribution points exceed the consumption needs," explains Prof. Dr. Thilo Klein, economist in the ZEW research area "Market Design" and professor at Pforzheim University. The reason for this is that each distribution point collects its own donations and - regardless of the amount collected - receives 25 percent of the demand from a central bulk warehouse.

ZEW colleague Dr. Marion Ott explains this with an example: "Distribution point A receives 100 percent of what it needs from local markets and thus has no more need. Issue point B, on the other hand, receives only 50 percent of the demand from local markets. However, both distribution points receive an additional 25 percent of the demand from the bulk warehouse. While distribution point A has a surplus of 125 percent, distribution point B can only cover 75 percent of the total demand. If the bulk warehouse had better information about the supplemental needs of the dispensaries, it could adjust its distribution accordingly."

To solve the problem, the scientists developed a platform as a joint partner together with Tafel Deutschland that makes all donation flows available in real time and centrally. A distribution algorithm is used to determine the needs of the respective distribution point, which aims to distribute a day's donations as evenly as possible among the customers. For this purpose, the donation quantities calculated in the optimization are compared with the status quo and then distributed to the individual dispensing points in such a way that all customers/clients can be offered as similar a share of the daily donations as possible.

"Our proposal results in an efficient and fair distribution of food. The distribution algorithm has a positive impact on food rescue because surpluses no longer spoil," says Thilo Klein, summarizing the benefits, adding, "The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for food waste to be halved by 2030. Thanks to developments in digitization, food banks in Germany can significantly increase their contribution to this."

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1181056/saving-food-with-leibniz-research.html