W.A.S.T.E. R.E.D.U.C.E.: Waste auditing sensor technology to enhance the reduction of edible discards in university cafeterias & eateries

Abstract

Food waste disposal and food availability are both problems in the world today. The ability to monitor food waste is currently limited by the use of manual data collection and sparsity of monitoring. Using sensors to automate the process of measuring and collecting data on food waste would allow constant monitoring and provide a better dataset for analysis. This data can also be used to create ambient displays geared educate a target audience and produce behavioral changes. Student cafeterias serve as the focal point for data collection within this study, presenting both an abundance of data and unique challenges. We have created, deployed, and tested an autonomous, real-time system to collect data on food waste which includes an ambient display tailored to effect behavioral change in students.