We are proud to share that our article on tech intervention as an effective solution to food waste was published on the ReFresh Community of Experts (COE) platform. COE is a knowledge sharing virtual platform that offers users a dedicated space to find and share information about proven solutions and innovative new approaches to reduce the volume of surplus food generated, feed hungry people, and divert food and scraps to the highest beneficial use. It has also been recognized and established as a collaborative and key knowledge-sharing platform for the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste (FLW).
In the article, titled Turning ReFresh Consumer Behaviour Study into Effective Food Waste Tech Intervention, we are debunking the issue of Tech Scepticism as related to food waste prevention. Mobile technology is a viable and highly affordable solution to the food waste problem if it is accurately anticipating actual consumer behaviour and drivers.
Read the article overview below.
Overview
While household food waste is recognized as a major issue in the EU and US, there is still no consensus on how to solve it. In the age of digitalisation, when we witness successful tech-interventions in almost all areas of life, it appears common sense to investigate the potential of smart technology to provide solutions for food waste reduction.
Instead, we see quite the opposite being the case, in which tech-solutions are met with scepticism by food warriors. Much of the scepticism is based on the fact that that early technological prototypes for food waste reduction have failed. Yet most of these tech solutions had one thing in common. They were not based on real consumer behavior research that provides insight as to the actual pain points that people experience in their daily kitchen routines and customer journeys.
The major breakthrough in this field of consumer food waste research happened in 2016 with the publishing of the “Causes & Determinants of Consumers Food Waste A theoretical framework,” a report that was constructed by the Wageningen University.
This report presents a comprehensive theoretical framework on consumer food waste behaviours and focuses on the specific habits that increase the likelihood to waste, as well as the drivers behind these habits. It is not the inability of technology to provide meaningful intervention for food waste reduction per se that should be in question, but the construction of technology that is not centred on tweaking behaviours that lead to food waste and the drivers behind them.
A design solution, be it technological or from the realm of public policy, is useless unless it is able to capture the heart of the problem it is trying to solve. If the design of the technology is accurately anticipating actual consumer behaviour and drivers, there is no reason that is should not work when it comes to tweaking food management habits.
A next-gen mobile and IoT solution, CozZo is designed specifically with such behaviour and drivers in mind, based on the findings of the aforementioned REFRESH report and extensive user feedback. Its purpose is to provide relief and assist on all the pain points outlined in the study, at its various stages, from planning, provisioning, storage, to preparation and consumption, so as to help households use the food they provision before it expires.
It does so through an accurate user experience delivered through smart, self-learning and intuitive technology. Launched at the beginning of 2017, CozZo is currently the most trusted home food management app on the UK App Store. Monitoring the interaction of its base (currently over 10,000 users), CozZo continues to closely watch out for potential pain points that people encounter with the technology itself, and in its relation to their customer journey.
Read the full paper on our website.
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