Capgemini’s Friedman on Solutions Retailers Can Use to Reduce Household Food Waste

Food waste continues to be a global issue. While households will bear the bulk of the responsibility, retailers have an expanding range of tools to help curb the issue.

By integrating smart technologies and practices, retailers can play a critical role in household food waste by helping consumers make more informed decisions. At this year’s Sustainable Brands conference, Jordan Friedman, Manager – Consumer Products, Retail, and Hospitality at Capgemini, held a session that focused on different ways retailers can use technology to influence customer behavior and help reduce waste throughout the food supply chain.

While food waste is a problem at every step in the supply chain, households remain a significant contributor. In the United States, 40% of food waste happens in the home, and this can be attributed to poor meal planning, overbuying, and a lack of understanding of expiration dates. Globally, one-third of food is wasted each year. During her session, Friedman emphasized the need for retailers to take an active role in helping to solve this issue by educating customers and helping them make more conscious decisions when it comes to shopping.

During her presentation, Friedman went over a graph from a Capgemini survey in 2022 which showed that organizations believe they are taking action to help consumers reduce waste, but consumers remain unsatisfied with the noted actions. For example, 63% of organizations answered that they remove potentially confusing labels from packaging but less than 50% of consumers responded that they were satisfied with this action. Additionally, 60% of organizations answered that they help consumers know the difference between “best before,” “consume by,” and “expiration date,” but only 39% of consumers are satisfied with this.

Related:Mill Releases Data on Household Food Waste and Consumer Behavior Change at Home

The consensus in the room, filled with other professionals who deal with food and food waste, was that empowering consumers with relevant information at the point of purchase can go a long way to reducing food waste. Attendees noted the importance of education being a major driving factor in food waste reduction, making critical information, such as sell-by dates, easy to understand a must for retailers. Additionally, those who attended the panel also felt that consumers need to do a better job when retailers don’t and that at-home food waste education is essential to diverting food waste.

Friedman explored the role of AI solutions in reducing food waste, mentioning how successful companies like Winnow, an AI-powered system used in kitchens, help track food waste by using scales and computer vision.

Related:Innovative Food Recovery Programs, Scaling Food Rescue Operations, Zero Food Waste

“[Winnow’s] marquee use case is IKEA and they’ve been able to officially announce that they’ve helped IKEA cut food waste by 50% in their kitchens,” said Friedman.

Monitoring what goods are being discarded will help kitchens adjust their practices and minimize waste, which would also translate into cost savings. But AI solutions aren’t the only digital tool booming in food waste, as food rescue apps are on the rise throughout the United States. Too Good To Go connects consumers with food in stores that is nearing expiration and can be purchased at discounted rates.

Collecting data is the first step, but, as Friedman explained, it’s using the data that will be the difference maker. During the panel, she explained that one of the things Capgemini did was put the prediction of when food is expected to sell next to when that food is set to expire. With that information, Capgemini was able to see what SKUs were at risk and the actions needed to be taken, which was dependent on the product, how close it was to expiration, and the money it cost the retailer and area partners. Capgemini used AI to sift through possible solutions, recommending the best course of action for companies.

Related:Small Scale and Modular Food Waste Recycling Technologies

“We did this with a global consumer product company. We focused on a couple of stores in Europe and we’re already seeing a reduction of around 50% in food waste in their distribution centers. And they made a prediction of if it were to be scaled, then they could see around 37 million euros in savings over the next three years,” explains Friedman.

“It’s not only good for the environment but it’s also very good for business.”

There is an arsenal of tools at our disposal that can bring retailers and consumers closer together and educate both parties, leading to significant reductions in food waste. By integrating smart technologies, implementing education, and promoting real-time data sharing, retailers can empower consumers to make more conscious buying decisions that will save them money and reduce waste.

Near the end of the presentation, Friedman shared a roadmap from ReFED that outlined a plan to reduce food waste in the United States by 2030. This roadmap includes an annual investment of $18.4 billion (split between public, private, and philanthropic investments) across more than 40 solutions to reduce 21 million tons of food waste per year. This investment would see a return of $78 billion in annual net financial benefit, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 113 million metric tons annually, save 6.2 trillion gallons of water annually, and recover the equivalent of 4.2 billion meals.

“The solutions exist [and] there are a lot of solutions out there. There is a large investment needed, but the impact and net benefit of that investment is four times that,” said Friedman.

“There is a lot that can be done but there’s still more that needs innovating. That needs scale. That needs thought leadership and commitment from people to close that gap and reach that goal.

See Also: Zero Waste Lunch at WasteExpo Showcases Potential of Leftover, Undesirable Foods