Food waste is an increasing issue within the United States. Wasted food costs individuals thousands of dollars and increases their carbon footprint. In this project, we focused on understanding user needs for a technology-based solution that addresses behaviours that contribute to food waste.

We started by observing eight young adults to explore how they organised and disposed of expired food items. We interviewed 8 participants and gathered insights on how they managed, purchased, and disposed of food. Major implications for the design of our technology are as follows:

• Preparation: From our interviews we heard from participants about the importance of preparing to go to the grocery store. Through preparation participants found that by preparing a budget and grocery list they found that they would buy less food and not waste as much food.

• Manage fridge and pantry organisation: Through our study we have found that a system could help manage pantry and fridge organisation. While observing participants we found that individuals threw out food that was in the back of their fridge due to them not being aware of it. Having a system that monitors food will make individuals more cautious of their food inventory prior to it going bad.

• Provide other waste management solutions: From our observations we discovered that individuals threw food in the trash and not look for alternatives such as composting. Our design solution would introduce new options for users to discover other methods for food waste management.

  
  

Our study was limited by a small sample size and a focus on storage and disposal. In our next study, we will conduct interviews that will also explore the preparation and food purchasing cycle.