Use of intelligent applications to reduce household food waste

Household food waste is gaining an increasing emphasis worldwide. Multiple factors have been identified that contribute to household food waste including a lack of consumer understanding of durability coding and expiration dates on food. The aim of research is to review the evolution of date labeling and associated on-pack information, its interrelationship with household food waste, and potential future developments in intelligent applications to address food waste, transparency of communication and food safety. The length of shelf-life influences food waste with a longer shelf-life leading to less waste. Whilst preservatives extend shelf-life, the trend towards “clean labels” means that alternative intelligent approaches may be required that meet the expectations of consumers, improve personal agency in terms of improving product storage conditions, purchasing behavior to minimize food waste and support effective household inventory management. Intelligent options considered in this paper include: intelligent packaging and also intelligent appliances as part of an internet of things (IoT) enabled “smart kitchen.

Review: Consumption-stage food waste reduction interventions - What works and how to design better interventions

Food waste prevention has become an issue of international concern, with Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 aiming to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels by 2030. However there is no review that has considered the effectiveness of interventions aimed at preventing food waste in the consumption stages of the food system. This significant gap, if filled, could help support those working to reduce food waste in the developed world, providing knowledge of what interventions are specifically effective at preventing food waste. This paper fills this gap, identifying and summarizing food-waste prevention interventions at the consumption/consumer stage of the supply chain via a rapid review of global academic literature from 2006 to 2017. We identify 17 applied interventions that claim to have achieved food waste reductions. Of these, 13 quantified food waste reductions. Interventions that changed the size or type of plates were shown to be effective (up to 57% food waste reduction) in hospitality environments. Changing nutritional guidelines in schools were reported to reduce vegetable waste by up to 28%, indicating that healthy diets can be part of food waste reduction strategies. Information campaigns were also shown to be effective with up to 28% food waste reduction in a small sample size intervention. Cooking classes, fridge cameras, food sharing apps, advertising and information sharing were all reported as being effective but with little or no robust evidence provided. This is worrying as all these methods are now being proposed as approaches to reduce food waste and, except for a few studies, there is no reproducible quantified evidence to assure credibility or success. To strengthen current results, a greater number of longitudinal and larger sample size intervention studies are required. To inform future intervention studies, this paper proposes a standardised guideline, which consists of: (1) intervention design; (2) monitoring and measurement; (3) moderation and mediation; (4) reporting; (5) systemic effects. Given the importance of food-waste reduction, the findings of this review highlight a significant evidence gap, meaning that it is difficult to make evidence-based decisions to prevent or reduce consumption-stage food waste in a cost-effective manner

A novel systematic approach for analysing exploratory design ideation

Two kinds of design ideation process may be distinguished in terms of the problems addressed: (i) solution-focused, i.e. generating solutions to address a fixed problem specifying a desired output; and (ii) exploratory, i.e. considering different interpretations of an open-ended problem and generating associated solutions. Existing systematic analysis approaches focus on the former; the literature is lacking such an approach for the latter. In this paper, we provide a means to systematically analyse exploratory ideation for the first time through a new approach: Analysis of Exploratory Design Ideation (AEDI). AEDI involves: (1) open-ended ideation tasks; (2) coding of explored problems and solutions from sketches; and (3) evaluating ideation performance based on coding. We applied AEDI to 812 concept sketches from 19 open-ended tasks completed during a neuroimaging study of 30 professional product design engineers. Results demonstrate that the approach provides: (i) consistent tasks that stimulate problem exploration; (ii) a reliable means of coding explored problems and solutions; and (iii) an appropriate way to rank/compare designers’ performance. AEDI enables the benefits of systematic analysis (e.g. greater comparability, replicability, and efficiency) to be realised in exploratory ideation research, and studies using open-ended problems more generally. Future improvements include increasing coding validity and reliability

Food handling practices and expiration dates: Consumers’ perception of smart labels

Household food waste is a major sustainability problem to solve. Smart labels can alleviate the contributing factor of incorrect interpretation of expiration date labels. However, so far little research has studied consumer handling practices and perceptions of such labels in the context of use. We address this through a qualitative, asynchronous and text-based focus group study with 18 UK smart label early adopter and mainstream consumers, using the case of smart labels on red meat packaging. Results show that consumers are heavily reliant on either expiration date or their own senses, and that trust in the label is a key factor towards including smart labels in everyday food handling practices. Findings imply that in-store demonstrations and information would support and foster uptake of smart labels

Domestic kitchen design strategies to reduce food waste

This research aimed to understand how the domestic kitchen design can help the user to reduce their food waste. From this, we had the objective to define strategies and principles directed to professionals who develop domestic kitchen designs. To accomplish this goal, we approached the themes of sustainable development and design for sustainability as the basis for proposing solutions, focusing on the user phase, that create ruptures in the current system and instigate more responsible behaviours in terms of economy, environment and society. In this sense, we investigated the problem of food waste, mainly in the Portuguese scenario, to understand its dimension, what is actually wasted and what are the factors related to this behaviour. So we presented strategies and design projects to induce behavioural change, focusing both on sustainability and food waste. From that, we systematized those that can be transported to the kitchen scenario. About the kitchen space, we presented brief chronological evolution and the design rules and parameters existing in the literature, in order to define key moments in the design process for implementation of the selected strategies. Finally, we established a set of nine strategies and their principles, which were evaluated by a sample of professionals in the sector, through online survey. From all the data and information gathered in the research, we concluded this dissertation with the design of a kitchen model, in which we implemented the established guidelines, which meant a practical evaluation of our result.Esta investigação buscou compreender como o desenho das cozinhas domésticas pode auxiliar o usuário a diminuir seu desperdício de alimentos. A partir disso tivemos o objetivo de definir estratégias e princípios direcionados a profissionais que desenvolvem desenhos de cozinhas domésticas. Para cumprir este objetivo, abordamos os temas do desenvolvimento sustentável e do design para a sustentabilidade como a base para a proposição de soluções, com foco na fase do usuário, que criem ruturas no sistema atual e que instiguem comportamentos mais responsáveis em termos de economia, meio ambiente e sociedade. Neste sentido, investigamos o problema do desperdício de alimentos, principalmente no cenário português, a fim de compreender qual a sua dimensão, o que é de fato desperdiçado e quais são os fatores relacionados a este comportamento. Apresentamos, então, estratégias e projetos de design para induzir mudança de comportamento, com foco, tanto na sustentabilidade, quanto no desperdício de alimentos. A partir disso, sistematizamos aquelas que podem ser transportadas ao cenário da cozinha. Sobre o espaço da cozinha, apresentamos breve evolução cronológica e as regras e parâmetros de projeto existentes na literatura, a fim de definir momentos chave no processo de desenho para implementação das estratégias selecionadas. Por fim, estabelecemos um conjunto de nove estratégias e seus princípios, que foram avaliadas por uma amostra de profissionais do setor, por meio de inquérito online. A partir de todos os dados e informações colhidas na investigação, concluímos esta dissertação com a criação de uma proposta de projeto modelo de cozinha, no qual implementamos as guidelines estabelecidas, o que significou uma avaliação prática do nosso resultado

Towards sustainable use: design behaviour intervention to reduce household environment impact

The use of electrical products has a significant environmental impact, mainly determined by user behaviour, which has overridden the energy efficiency gains in the household from technological and educational solutions. Designers are identifiably in a position to plan and shape the way in which consumption occurs and to fill the gap between values and everyday user actions. Despite this, the literature demonstrates that the use phase of the product life cycle is often neglected in sustainable design. Few attempts have been made to change user behaviour through design-led interventions to limit its environmental burdens. In addition, there is a lack of understanding of users perceptions of environmental issues with reference to the specific context: actual use, habits and fundamental needs of the product as well as the behaviour changing products. This makes creating sustainable use of the household appliance lessen the significance of its original purpose. The aim of this research is to seek the role that design could play in influencing more sustainable actions to reduce environmental household impacts. Based on a comprehensive literature review in diverse disciplinary fields of enquiry, a Design Behaviour Intervention Model has been established to bridge the social-psychological theories of behaviour and the behaviour intervention approaches. To inform this enquiry, a single product type (household cold appliance) was chosen as a case study to explore the capacity of a qualitative behaviour study to identify unsustainable aspects of product use. Two design activities were carried out: one examining the designer s ability to respond to the design brief and the other applying the findings that emerged from the in-depth behaviour analysis and the model into the design process. The selected outcomes from the design study are evaluated by a focus group to uncover the users acceptance level of these concepts and the behaviour intervention approaches applied. The collective findings are discussed along with the usefulness and effectiveness of the Design Behaviour Intervention Model in Design for Sustainable Behaviour. This research highlights that a detailed user study is not only the first step for improving energy efficiency in product use but also the origin of innovative design concepts to tap the market by providing better and greener use experiences. Useful insights on primary findings have emerged: the effectiveness of applying the social-psychological theory in the Sustainable Design domain; principles of improving effectiveness and acceptability of the behaviour interventions; and a guide for Design for Sustainable Behaviour

Supporting sustainable food shopping

Food contributes a surprisingly large portion of personal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Could pervasive technologies help influence diet choices to reduce this? The authors offer insights for designers of pervasive technologies addressing food and the GHG impacts of diet