Service Design in the Optimisation and Limitation of Food Waste in Single Households
Dahlen, Max (2021)
Dahlen, Max
2021
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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021121325680
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021121325680
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There is a growing population of single households in Finland and the need for sustainable solutions to containing and managing food waste is of great concern. The latest census reports show that 44% of Finns live alone and this number has been on the rise. The environmental impact of foods wasted in production and consumption is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases that we are currently combating. As an economic and environmental drain, wasting food has a large global and local impact and the investigation into its causes and potential solutions is paramount. The single household proportionally generates the most food waste when compared to other cohabitants. This is due to a number of different factors, including packaging of ingredients, portion control, menu fatigue(the lack of interest in cooking at home due to available dishes in a persons repertoire).
This paper looks to explore the reasons behind the generation of food waste and using service design techniques develop a service or product to help limit the food that is being wasted in single households in Finland. This process was conducted using a co-design method involving 14 students over a 7 week period that explored different service design tools to articulate and develop a service catered to curbing food waste. Food waste for the research was identified as being edible food products that were discarded as a result of: production waste, spoilage, and plate waste.
These causes of food waste were investigated over the 7 week period by utilizing probes and research into food trends and production methods. From the findings it was concluded that the single household currently is not aware of the impact of their food waste, nor does the single producer have an understanding of the different causes of food waste in their production.
The solution for this was developed in the ideation where a service product was developed that allowed the single user of today to monitor their food impact as well as combat the production, spoilage, and plate waste via an application. This application would allow the user to monitor their environmental impact of wasted food as well as provide the user with regular inspiration for meals that utilize all ingredients in a weekly purchasing cycle in order to reduce spoilage and plate waste by considering portion size.
This paper looks to explore the reasons behind the generation of food waste and using service design techniques develop a service or product to help limit the food that is being wasted in single households in Finland. This process was conducted using a co-design method involving 14 students over a 7 week period that explored different service design tools to articulate and develop a service catered to curbing food waste. Food waste for the research was identified as being edible food products that were discarded as a result of: production waste, spoilage, and plate waste.
These causes of food waste were investigated over the 7 week period by utilizing probes and research into food trends and production methods. From the findings it was concluded that the single household currently is not aware of the impact of their food waste, nor does the single producer have an understanding of the different causes of food waste in their production.
The solution for this was developed in the ideation where a service product was developed that allowed the single user of today to monitor their food impact as well as combat the production, spoilage, and plate waste via an application. This application would allow the user to monitor their environmental impact of wasted food as well as provide the user with regular inspiration for meals that utilize all ingredients in a weekly purchasing cycle in order to reduce spoilage and plate waste by considering portion size.