An Agent-based Model of Surplus Food Rescue Using Crowd-shipping

As climate change approaches a point of irreversibility, it is becoming increasingly important to find ways of preventing food waste from reaching landfills and emitting greenhouse gases. Food rescue programs offer a means of simultaneously diverting surplus food from landfills and addressing food insecurity. Recently, some food rescue organizations in the U.S. have begun leveraging crowd-shipping to more efficiently transport surplus food from donors to food-insecure recipients. However, the success of such initiatives relies on achieving a critical mass of donor and crowd-shipper participation. This paper describes a conceptual agent-based model that was developed to evaluate the design parameters of a volunteer-based crowd-shipping system for food rescue. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate the importance of generating sufficient awareness and commitment among potential volunteers in the early stages of the program’s development to ensure consistent participation and service.