This project was directed towards a Swedish highschool canteen. It's mainly targeting plate waste, which is the food discarded after a meal.
A service design solution, based on the design opportunities I found with design research. I also designed an app as part of this solution. You can find the prototype at the very end of this presentation. It's interactive and you can try it directly in your browser!
Plate waste is due to the students taking more food than they eat. Either they take too much food or they eat too little.
Previous research suggests that a stressful eating environment and the size of plates have a direct effect on the amount of wasted food. Peer pressure, the scheduling of lunch breaks, and the students' food preferences are also influencing how much they eat and waste.
The kitchen staff sees how students take too large portions of food, during the days when favourite foods are served (B, C). They have also noticed that students throw away food after they discover they do not like it (A).
I talked to a student who agrees that students throw away food when they find they do not like it (A). She also told me some students only like parts of a dish. They then overserve themselves and take out the parts they like to eat (B). Which makes them throw away the rest. A second student shares the experience that there is a mismatch in food preferences which causes plate waste.
Both students and staff agree that discovery of disliking a dish leads to food waste (A). But the staff sees how the students take too much food, and blame them for the food waste. While the students mainly thinks the problem is that the food is not tasting good, or the eating environment is unpleasant and stressful. Which is something the school staff should do something about.
Since both situations A and B are caused by the students are unhappy with the food, it's important to target this for creating a solution. Situation A and D are leading to students still being hungry after lunch. Although situations B and C lead to food waste, they are also the scenarios where students are full and happy. The negative effect here might be that there is not enough food for all students. And the wasted food, of course.
Mitt Käk wants to make students eat more food and thereby reduce food waste as a result. The MittKäk! application targets the first reason for food waste that is mentioned in Matomatic's application, that students dislike the food. This design solution has been developed in workshops together with students. In the app, students can order and customize their meals for the upcoming week. and leave their feedback on the different dishes.
My project partner Matomatic offers scales and digital systems to measure and register food waste. The company have a product that provides feedback when students waste food. This plate waste scale has helped reduce plate waste at schools. Students may give their reasons for wasting food on the graphical user interface.The three reasons to choose from:They disliked the foodNot enough time to eat or feeling stressed.They were full and had taken too much food.
As mentioned already, there are many situations which can lead to food waste. The problem needs to be adressed from many angles.
The kitchen staff needs to learn about the students' food preferences and waste behaviour at a specific school. Are there a few students wasting a lot? Or are there many students wasting a little food?
The current state is that students are blaming the waste issue on lack of tasty foods. While the staff are blaming students for serving too much food.
Feedback-designs (such as plate waste scales) places responsibility on the student to waste less. The interface of the plate waste scale could also contain the opportunity to create dialogue around waste behavior. The students both receive feedback on their waste behavior and give reasons for why they are wasting. This allows a more shared responsibility.
The students should be encouraged to try new dishes. But without having to throw away food they dislike. To help with this a "taste first station" is placed in the school canteen. Here the students can take a small portion of the dishes, on small plates. Before they decide on a full portion. Something similar called "tasting spoons" has been tried already. In connection to the tasting station the students can be allowed to give feedback on the dishes they have tasted. Possibly through a digital screen. But these interactions need to consider that the students have time pressure, and the station should not create queues.
The school canteen is characterized by efficiency. Many students should eat during a short time. Plates and food carts are often placed directly at the entrance. Serving and eating food should be smooth and fast. In contrary the school cafeteria is a relaxed place where students hang out for a longer time. There is an opportunity to create a cozier environment in the canteen which resembles the cafeteria more.
By reducing noise and creating sections instead of an open space, would make the environment a lot calmer. There could be more experimentations in how to place the food carts in the room. Hopefully this could make the canteen a place where the children like to spend time during their lunch break. The peer pressure of leaving the canteen fast after eating could possibly be reduced.
The plate waste is weighed every day during lunch. The scale can count the number of students who waste. Are there many or few students who are wasting food at this school? On which days are more of the students wasting food? This knowledge can help the kitchen staff in their communication with the students about food waste. The exact time for food waste could also be registered and compared to the lunch schedule. In case it shows there are children in a specific school class who are wasting more, their class could be addressed directly. Perhaps it could reveal other behaviour patterns as well.
Information about how many students are eating, is important for the food waste measurements. A scale is placed underneath the plates. It counts every plate removed from the pile during a lunch break. For scheduling purposes, the time is also registered for measuring the in-flow of students at the canteen. The number of students is also a success-rate for the food options. Since students eat at the canteen instead of buying lunch out.
The results from food measurements are displayed together with the menu. It shows which dishes the students eat a lot of and which are causing more waste. This provides an overview of the current situation. It is thought to be used for initiating communication regarding plate waste and food preferences.
An app contains a forum for discussing the meal options and the overall eating experience at the canteen. The students can rate dishes and provide constructive feedback.
A news feed where new initiatives can bee shared and seen by other schools is part of the app. Instead of solving similar problems on their own, the kitchen staff is offered a platform for sharing their experiences and learning from each other.
The product collects the results of food waste measurements over time. The staff can experiment with varying arrangements and monitor the results on food waste. Perhaps from making changes to the menu.
A scale underneath the stack of plates registers when a plate is removed. This counts the number of students eating per day. The time for arrival is also registered for evaluation of the lunch scheduling.
The served food is automatically weighed every time new food trays are placed in the serving station. Since every food option has a separate scale, it is possible to retrieve information about the consumption per dish, which is then automatically stored in the app.
Plate waste is measured and logged with help of a scale underneath the waste bin, every time a student is wasting food. This also counts how many students have been wasting that day. This generates knowledge about the students waste behaviours that day.
The plate scale provides real time information about how many students have arrived at the canteen. Based on the daily schedule the app is calculating how many students are still expected to arrive. The app shows how much food is served in realtime which makes it easy to refill the serving station in the canteen.
At the end of the day the app calculates how much food the students have been serving, eating and wasting. The data is presented in a daily and monthly overview. To help future menu planning, the data is also presented together with the lunch menu.
The kitchen staff found the start screen redundant. Since they are out in the canteen with the school children during lunch hour, they will know when food runs out. They will also have an idea of how many have already eaten.
The students I talked to wished for a way to leave direct feedback on the food options.
In the new prototype, the start screen consists of a news feed and forum. The staff can see how other schools in Sweden are trying to reduce food waste (design opportunity 7).
Click on the label "Meny" and you'll find out what the students think about different food options (design opportunity 6).