Plastic Contamination in Food Waste from Restaurants, Groceries, Schools, and Households

Research data characterizing plastic contaminants in food waste samples collected from common generators, including restaurants, groceries, schools, and households. The dataset includes raw data, measurements, analytical results, and observations, along with an R script for processing and visualization. Author Jennifer Park published the dataset on figshare under a CC-BY-4.0 license, last updated on 2026-05-02.

Use Cases

• Quantify plastic contaminant abundance in food waste streams based on sample characterization.
• Assess potential technological and ecological risks from microplastic releases based on contaminant type and characteristics.
• Model plastic degradation and release during composting and anaerobic digestion based on contaminant data.
• Identify upstream sources of plastic pollution in the food system based on generator types (restaurants, households, etc.).

Strengths

• Includes raw data, analytical results, and the R script used for processing and generating figures.
• Data is openly available under a CC-BY-4.0 license.
• Samples are representative of common food waste generators, including restaurants, groceries, schools, and households.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is small (2.6 MB), which may limit the scope of analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Research collected representative food waste samples from generators and characterized contaminants.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-02 00:24:38; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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