Household Consumption

LOWINFOOD implementations in the household consumption sector

LOWINFOOD commitment in the household consumption sector

LOWINFOOD is aimed at reducing the waste of all food products at the consumption stage, with a particular focus on perishable foods. This will be done by testing, improving and demonstrating six different innovations

To this end, LOWINFOOD has focused on three target groups: food service companies (e.g. business and school caterers, restaurants); pupils and teachers at schools, and individual consumers.

Among the innovations, five of them are technological innovations envisaged for forecasting, waste tracking, managing food provisions and selling restaurants’ surplus food. The last one is an educational approach against food waste to be implemented in schools.

Innovations being tested and improved in LOWINFOOD for household consumption

13-App manage food provisions

Mobile app to manage household food provisions

CozZo is a food, home & personal supplies manager, combined with versatile shopping and meal planners, which helps users avoid food waste by tracking what they have and when it expires. The system reduces users’ product management efforts with suggestions and auto-update algorithms based on predictive self-learning technology.

Read more and watch the videos about this innovation

CozZo was implemented in households in Finland (Tampere area), Austria (Vienna area) and Greece (Athens area). About 50 regular and student households in Finland, Austria and Greece have used the CozZo app in their daily lives for a period of 3 or 6 weeks. The amount and type of avoidable food waste was measured before and after this period. The participants also answered a survey before and after the implementation of the innovation.

A workshop was held in May 2023 to discuss and share the experiences of users in each country in testing the app. The topics discussed during the meeting were the easiness of starting using the app, its usability and usefulness, and the overall strengths and weaknesses users find when making real-life use of it.

Preventing food waste in households involves several interconnected routines and practices, for example, related to planning purchases and meals, shopping, cooking, and storing food. The app has several features that aim to help households in these. However, integrating a new digital app into these existing routines can be a bit tricky. Many households seem to have used the app in a way that supports their food waste reduction activities the best.

The reduction in the amount of food waste was very good, and was partly due to the awareness of the households about the food waste problem thanks to the implementation of the innovation.

14-App selling restaurants surplus

Mobile app to sell restaurants’ surplus food

Regusto is a mobile application that allows consumers to buy meals at a reduced price from restaurants, and to help saving food waste at the same time. Restaurants use Regusto to sell fresh meals prepared in surplus. Thanks to geolocation and proximity marketing, it enables consumers to find the closest offers. The meals purchased are stored in the REGUSTO bag, a convenient and ecological box.

Read more and watch the videos about this innovation

The positive results of the implementation of the Regusto bag were presented on the first LOWINFOOD DAY, celebrated on 3 May 2024, at the Tibidabo restaurant, one of the restaurants collaborating with the project in the implementation of this innovation.

The results obtained by Regusto were extremely positive: both in kitchen operations and among restaurant customers, a 9% reduction in food waste by volume was recorded with 73% of restaurant customers declaring that they had not recorded food waste after using the Regusto bags.