  Food loss and waste is a problem with rising global recognition. Attempts to
combat food waste at institutional levels such as college campus dining halls
require insight into food waste statistics to evaluate efforts to reduce food
waste. Gathering such data is currently costly, requiring manual sorting and
weighing of trash bin contents. We propose an alternate method of estimating
the food waste in trash bins using a radio frequency (RF) transceiver received
signal strength indicator (RSSI) to estimate the attenuation caused by the
trash contents. We propose food attenuates the radio frequency signal at
greater rates than the paper and plastic trash present, allowing us to
correlate and estimate the amount (weight) of food waste present with the
observed RSSI values. We witness promising results while testing this approach.
