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By Raissa Talehata
Discovery & Understand
DISCOVERY
Most people waste food more than they think.
This project all started in the spring semester 2021 when I was working on a research for Designing for Infographics class exploring the topic of food waste.
I was surprised to find out that 40% of food produced in the United States never gets eaten, it means that we waste 365 millions pounds of food every day (NRDC, 2021). This number is only for fresh produce; not counting leftovers or other processed food that got thrown away.
43% of this population is made up by households waste, followed by food services (18%), farms (16%), and grocery & distribution (13%) (United Nations, 2021). It means that, we as the end customers are responsible for the biggest contribution in food waste which includes spoiled food, over-preparation, date label confusion, over buying, as well as poor planning.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Our generation is food-illiterate, we stockpile food and we are in denial of how much food we wasted.
Research Questions:
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Why end consumers like you and I end up wasting food?
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Why do people buy food they don’t intend to eat? What are the challenges?
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How can we find effective ways to ease the process of managing our food?
UNDERSTAND
Initial Hypothesis
We are still in denial on how much food we’re wasting
A research by NRDC found that 76% of participants believe that they waste less food than the average American. In the way we shop, end consumers often don’t think ahead in planning and managing our consumptions and we end up shop impulsively without thinking ahead of how much waste could’ve been avoided.
We stockpile food and delay dispose them
The lack of planning in managing our food consumption has an implication on consumers buying food more than we need. Then, as produced stored in the back of our fridge will become less visible; and the next thing you know food become spoiled and we have no other choices than toss them.
Food is undervalued and people are lacking of food literacy
Food in the US is cheap and sold in a large-size package; while the size of our refrigerator, dinner plates, to serving size in recipe books have evolved over the years.
Our initial intention for buying fresh produce has always been novel, but due to the lack of education and skills to effectively manage food, we fail to appreciate the real value behind food production.
DISCOVERY
Infographic
