Harnessing Augmented Reality for Increasing the Awareness of Food Waste Amongst Dutch Consumers

Abstract

Food waste is a significant challenge, and our societal behaviours play a role in the amount of food items discarded. Thus, an effective method to inform consumers about high wastage patterns may help reduce the amount thrown away. This research investigates how Augmented Reality can be harnessed to enlighten consumers and work towards addressing high food waste patterns. Yet research on this topic is still very much in its infancy. To pursue this solution, food behaviour data are employed to provide an insight into how much is wasted from 9 catering industry locations in the Netherlands. An Augmented Reality application is developed, where models of food are projected onto real-world environments to provide scale on waste over a 7-day period. A quantitative evaluation of higher-education attendees demonstrated the approach has potential to incentivise reduction in waste.