Using technology to cut food waste

It has been estimated that huge quantity of food goes waste around the world in a year -- millions of tons, going by estimates made by various research agencies. To counter this, scientists and startup enthusiasts are making use of modern technology.

More than at home, it's in restaurants where the wastage occurs most. People order food without having a clear idea of what they are going to eat. Usually, the menu has no information on either the ingredients or on how the food has been prepared. With the result, many people tend to waste what they have ordered.

Gunjan Mehrish, Monica Narula and Noopur Tiwari have come up with a solution -- video menus, called Fideos.

These are short 10 to 30-second videos that show "how a food dish is prepared and where the ingredients have been sourced from. They are transparent and give the customers a fair idea of the sumptuous dishes on offer", says this report in The Better India. They are now collaborating with many popular restaurants, in Delhi.

In Britain, IKEA has deployed a solution called 'intelligent bins', which aims to cut the amount that chefs throw away in the bin. The bins take a photo and learn to recognise what has been thrown out. The bin weighs it and calculates the cost. Chefs then understand the optimum amount that needs to be used in order to reduce waste, says this BBC report. IKEA says during the first year they have been able to achieve a 32% reduction in food waste.

(This post is a part of the We Are The World Blogfest, a series that celebrates good news.)