Food & Waste II

wasting/buying/shopping

Our group decided to highlight one individual problem of wasting- what is wasting of food. There are several actions in process of a wasting. The initial is action of buying- making supplies. I would call that gathering food. The second process is consuming these supplies, but in the smaller amount compared to the amount of our supplies. The final process is wasting- like clearing away the leftovers, the food after expiration time. This action can happened one time or can spread to the longer time term- it means can be like a background behind the shopping and buying process.
The action of shopping can be based on the spontaneous acting, when the individual is shopping above his real needs (is happening under the influence of advertising or discounts)

food waste fridge supermarket

Our issue is wasting food in nowadays households. We are looking for a design solution in the process of organization for the next generations. We decided to focus on two case studies: the case of students and the case of bachelors. One of the main problems is the distance between where we buy food and where we store it. When we buy, we don't know exactly what there is in the fridge and marketing makes us buy food we don't really need. As a result, when we come back home, there is sometimes too much food in the fridge and it becomes out of date before we can even consume it. Students and bachelors go to stores when they have time in their chaotic schedule; it is a chore for them. The solution must solve this place-problem. We will maybe focus on one of the two areas involved : the supermarket or the fridge.

During this week I will work in a group that try to solve the problem of excessive waste of food.

We will discuss the problem from two points of view:
- Students, whose life is not very planned and very quickly change their plans.They do not have much time or money or a lot of organization.
- Bachelors,whose case is similar in some respects but very different in others.
We will compare both trying to reach a solution for them.

On the relationship of each individual with the problem, we can say that's not a problem unique to each, so I would classify in the top "not you".
To see that differences I've written an article called "What the World Eats" that you can see in the group "Food & Waste II".

This week, our Presence Design project deals with wasting food issue. In the first day, we had to identify the context, and choose a detailed situation where wasting food happens. One issue particularly attracted our attention: many people throw a lot of fresh food out while filling their fridge with new fresh food. We decided to focus on two cases: the student case since we are all students and can easily talk about our experience, and the bachelor one which seems interesting for various reasons.
Let me introduce to you the time scale in our study. Buying fresh food is something that happens just right now whereas consuming fresh food or even wasting it is more a long-term process over one or even two weeks.

Mother Nature is the ultimate recycler: She returns living organisms back to the earth after they die. As the organisms decompose, the nutrients they contain are broken down and returned to the soil, where they are available to be used by future plants and animals.

Nature recycles every day. There are many examples, as leaves that fall to the ground, decompose and turn into compost, a nutrient-rich soil which plants to grow.
We can use the bio mimicry with the organic material, which serves as food for bacteria and fungi which serves as food for earthworms which serves as food for beetles and so on. Following the nature example, the environmentally-friendly thing to do is to make a compost pile using organic material.

It’s easy to maintain a compost pile in your backyard. Start with soil and then add equal amounts of “Greens”, sources of protein which attract organisms to the pile to breakdown the material, and “Browns”, carbohydrates which provide carbon to the compost pile.
Once you have established an initial layer of material, place a layer of “greens”, then a layer of “browns”, and continue to alternate the layers on a regular basis. It’s important to regularly mix the material in the pile to make quicker process. After approximately six months the material will breakdown into compost and will be ready to be used as a natural fertilizer for plants and trees.

behaviours of some social animals in front of danger

"An alarm signal is an antipredator adaptation referring to various signals emitted by social animals in response to danger.
Many primates and birds have elaborate alarm calls for warning conspecifics of approaching predators. For example, the characteristic alarm call of the Blackbird is a familiar sound in many gardens. Other animals like fish and insects may use other non-auditory signals, such as chemical messages. . For example, many animals may use chemosensory alarm signals, communicated by chemicals known as pheromones. Minnows and catfish release alarm pheromones (Schreckstoff) when injured, which cause nearby fish to hide in dense schools near the bottom. Animals are not the only organism to communicate threats to conspecifics either; some plants are able to perform a similar trick. Lima beans release volatile chemical signals that are received by nearby plants of the same species when infested with spider mites."

This is a natural response to danger using indicators like a special smell, sound or a visual indicator. This shows a kind of solidarity within communities using those indicators.

integrate biomimicry in a sustainable solution

The solution against waste was presented in a previous article.
We can see where biomimicry inspired us : the alarm signals that animals use would be the indicators for the health or the sustainability of a product. We would use maybe different kind of warning. It would be visual but also maybe with a sound or something different in order to warn all the senses.
Moreover, the fact that animals warn other animals show a special kind of solidarity which can be used in the participative solution : you could see other users advices about recipies and consumers' behaviour. This will be the social food alarm signal to prevent from wasting.
And the most obvious way of using biomimicry is in the composting process : nature doesn't waste anything. All is reused by other animals. Bacteria can help to create compost from out-of-date food.

Biomimicry is a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. We are looking for the inspirations and different ways of sullutions on the Food/Waste global problem.

On the yesterday’s workshop we were observing the biomimicry, the ways how the nature solves the problems - we were studding FOOD/WASTE problem. We have divided “food/waste” actions on the three different actions- 1.making decision process- before shopping, 2.making supplies- shopping and 3.cunsuming/wasting- to make our research well-arranged. We were looking for inspiration in nature for each of our actions. At the end we decided to focus more on the Making decision process like a process, where the nature’s solutions could give as a lot of answers. We would like integrate biology- mainly the principle of animal’s senses into our design. Based on these principles we set, what we want our design to do. Our design should help human consumers to make a right choice, to direct them (or to manage their behavior) to achieve the most efficient decision.

This is a first version of our final design project.

This is a first version of our final design project.

NEW APPLICATION called “WIF” = “Waste is Food” ON YOUR SMARTPHONE

0. BEFORE

➢ While making a list: WIF gives you advices
➢ WIF gives you recipes to make good combinations between fresh foods
➢ WIF gives you indicators concerning ecological or health factors

You want to eat something?
Tomato: NO
It is not the season! Think environment friendly!

Fish: YES
Good for you health!
Why do not combine this product with these vegetables following this recipe?

Meat: NO
You already have two beefsteaks in your fridge that you must eat until next Friday. Don’t forget it!

1. PURCHASING
➢ WIF can scan one product with your smartphone, the software answers to you!
➢ Same advices, recipes

2. CONSUMING
➢ You have on real time what you have inside your fridge using the bar code of the products you bought or you ate
➢ WIF gives you recipe “on the fridge”
➢ WIF gives you what you must buy to combine with product that you ever own
➢ You don’t want to cook? WIF offers you an online network where you can find a neighbour that cooked for many people and sells parts of his food.

3. WASTING Waste is food
➢ Despite al our advices, some food is out-of-date?
➢ Giving to WIF which food it is, WIF gives you the best way to recycle your food.
Composting -> plants
Breads- > feed animals

// Additional ideas:
→ Calculate the money that you saved during 1 week, 1 month
→ Create an online community where consumers could exchange recipes, advices and develop like a collective consciousness.