Reducing School Food Waste Using a Mobile Lunch Ordering System

The Project

I created a mobile app to reduce food waste in school cafeterias. The app allows students to make lunch choices ahead of time and these selections can be communicated to cafeteria staff to improve the accuracy in food quantities. With data collected over time, schools can use actual food consumption totals to order more accurately, reduce unnecessary food ordering, and eliminate food waste significantly. The app can be used for school breakfasts and even special events where some type of food is provided to accomplish the same goal (reducing food waste).

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Team Comments

Food waste is a serious problem in this country, and reducing it aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The World Wildlife Fund estimates food waste in schools at about 530,000 tons per year costing around $9.7M per day or $1.7B every school year. My app creates a reasonable solution.

My coding experience was very limited before I did my project. Learning how to edit sample coding and find new coding was challenging. But the Raspberry Pi website gave a lot of helpful information to teach me how to do it. From there I learned about MIT App Inventor and the tutorials helped me too.

I am still trying to improve the redesigned version. I plan to work on the data transmission aspect of the app so I can launch an actual pilot test in a school. Of course I need to enter all the lunch menu options working with school staff. Improving user interface is another aspect for tinkering.