Design an Intervention to Support Food Waste Prevention at Home

Abstract

FAO reported that one-third of all food produced for human consumption is thrown away (FAO, 2013). Food waste is a wicked problem that causes environmental deterioration and the socio-economic food gap. At the EU level, disposing of 89 million tons of food waste per year consumes 261 million tons of resources, equal to 170 million tons of CO2 emission (FAO, 2013). If this food is distributed and used properly, 1.3 billion tons of food waste in 2011 is estimated could feed up to 868 million people worldwide (FAO, 2011). In the Netherlands, approximately 2 million tons of food waste are produced annually, of which households as the highest contributor share 37% (Netherlands Nutrition Centre, 2019). To understand food waste prevention problems in Dutch households, the project started by conducting user research. The research concluded that forgetfulness due to low visibility, laziness to check the fridge regularly, and a messy food storage arrangement are why people discard food. People have tried to tackle those issues by displaying fruits and a few vegetables in a bowl or putting them on the kitchen counter. However, sometimes some food is still hidden at the bottom of the bowl and gets rotten before being consumed. By knowing the most discarded food by the participants, the scope of this project was narrowed down to save fruits, vegetables and food leftovers. Based on the insight from the photo diary and follow-up interview, a problem statement was formulated: "How might we minimise forgotten and overlooked food at home for people who live in the Netherlands so that as to reduce food waste at the consumer level?" After determining the design challenge, exploration to find solution ideas began. In this phase, four initial concepts came up. They were analysed, and the most promising idea for each concept was combined, resulting in a particular design concept called FooDi. FooDi is storage to display fruits and partly used vegetables usually hidden and forgotten in the fridge (e.g. half onion, half paprika or other cut vegetables). This product encourages the user to eat fruits they purchase in a daily portion and reuse the raw vegetable leftovers as soon as possible. A transparent lid is implemented to see through the cabinet and not miss any food to enhance food visibility. In addition, the quantity of food to show is limited to prevent food stacking that could lower visibility. FooDi was designed as short term storage (only for 1-2 days). However, a few possible risks were considered to slow down food deterioration. FooDi prevents quick overripening by splitting ethylene gas producers and absorbers. Moreover, a lid with natural ventilation was applied to keep the stored fruits and vegetables fresh (avoid rapid ageing). At the end of the project, the impact of using FooDi to support people in reducing food waste at home was measured. Thanks to FooDi, households' share in food waste decreased from 37% to 29%. In addition, the user could be able to save edible food worth €120 per year.