New interactive digital display to help reduce food waste

A householder disposing of food and garden organics FOGO waste

The South Australian Government has introduced a public display to learn about food waste.

Climate Change Minister Ian Hunter and Deputy Lord Mayor of Adelaide Megan Hender today opened ‘The General Story’ display, which aims to be a fun, innovative and interactive way to learn about food waste through the experiences of everyday food items found in your fridge or pantry.

The Adelaide Central Markets display focuses on digital characters Milk, Bread, Banana, Eggplant and Lamb Chop, finding out how they are grown and made, how much energy and water is used to grow them and why they often get wasted.

The store objects in the display were 3D printed through the Digital Fabrication at New Venture Institute, Flinders University and display uses the latest interactive multimedia software to play animated videos as users interact using SMS.

The installation was designed by Adelaide creative agency Sandpit and arose as a result of a State Government and City of Adelaide workshop on smart digital ways to highlight and reduce food waste.

The display consists of a pantry shelf of virtual food products, which come to life to tell the story of how they grew and came to be and reveal their greatest fear – that they might be wasted and never used. After telling its story each food item links the user via text message to a web page recipe of how the food can be used.

Approximately five per cent of the City of Adelaide’s greenhouse gas emissions come from waste and a major contributor to this is organic waste deposited in landfill. While decomposing, organic waste produces large amounts of methane – a far more destructive greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The display is delivered as part of the Carbon Neutral Adelaide initiative and is a collaboration between the Adelaide Smart City Studio, OzHarvest, the Adelaide Central Market Authority and Carbon Neutral Adelaide.

The digital display will be open until August 2017 and can be found in the old Cappo Seafood site at the Grote St eastern entrance of the Adelaide Central Market.

“About 20 per cent of the food purchased across Australia is wasted. By learning how we can reduce this we can not only become more environmentally sustainable but can also help save money,” said Sustainability, Environment and Conservation Minister Ian Hunter.

“This display is also a great example of local know how and innovation and shows the State’s potential in helping Australia transition to a low-carbon economy.”

“Through the Adelaide Smart City Studio, the City of Adelaide is proud to partner with the State Government to co-fund the development of a creative installation that educates the community,” City of Adelaide Deputy Lord Mayor Megan Hender said.

“Council believes that educating people about food waste and the lifecycle of different food items helps the city in our goal to be known as smart, green, liveable and creative.

“The digital installation is timely given that the ABC are running a television series on this very subject, The War on Waste, and we encourage everyone to come to our wonderful Adelaide Central Market to learn more.”

 

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