Reducing food waste responsibly with Sustain-a-bell
Joining Hands in Responsible Food Consumption
The Inspiration: Change Starts at Home
Have you ever had to toss out groceries you forgot in the fridge? I’ve been there — often! As someone new to cooking, I constantly struggled with meal planning and making sure I used all the groceries before they spoiled.
Realizing this was a common problem, I pitched the idea of tackling food waste to my design team after talking with friends and family about their own struggles. The result? Sustain-a-Bell — a solution designed to make responsible food consumption easier and reduce household food waste.
Understanding the Problem
Food waste is a massive issue. According to UN data, 17% of all food available to consumers — around 931 million metric tons — is wasted at household, food service, and retail levels. In the U.S. alone:
- 30–40% of the food supply ends up as waste.
- Each person wastes around 219 lbs of food annually.
- Food waste accounts for 24.1% of municipal landfill content.
If wasted food were a country, it would be the third-largest producer of greenhouse gases globally.
We wanted Sustain-a-Bell to help households manage groceries more efficiently — from meal planning and grocery shopping to keeping track of fridge contents.
Who We Designed For: Understanding the People Involved
While sustainable habits are gaining popularity across all ages, younger consumers (aged 18–34) are particularly likely to prioritize ethical values and reduce their environmental footprint. In line with this trend, we interviewed people across various age groups to understand their cooking, shopping, and food management habits. (Here is the interview script!)
Our findings? 78% of participants were motivated to reduce food waste, while 60% didn’t know how to handle it effectively at home. We also discovered that 90% prioritize the cooking experience and taste over nutrition information, with only a subset focused on calorie and sugar intake.
Competitive Analysis
To better understand our landscape, we examined existing sustainable platforms, evaluating them based on eight criteria: Services, Target Users, Mission, Functions, Navigation, Design, Usability, and User Feedback.
Defining Our Direction: Ideation and Lo-Fi Design
How Might We?
Our ideation phase was guided by “How Might We” questions. From these, we narrowed our focus to a mobile application that would help people:
- Track groceries and prevent spoilage.
- Plan meals with ingredients on hand.
- Create easy-access shopping lists.
User Flows
Based on our research insights, I mapped out three core user flows:
Flow 1: Reviewing items that are expiring soon to help users utilize them before they spoil.
60% of our potential users’ biggest challenge is planning what to cook
Flow 2: Adding new items to the inventory — a task made challenging by manual entry, so we explored alternatives.
~100% of our potential users said that manual entry of items into apps is difficult. People prefer using features that don’t require extra effort from their routine.
Flow 3: Making a shopping list — a feature 50% of users were already handling through notes or online order receipts.
Testing and Iteration: Usability Feedback
We conducted usability testing with 10 participants from our interview pool. Our goals were to:
- Identify struggles with main features and flows.
- Gather feedback on the app’s overall usability.
Key insights led us to refine the “add multiple items manually” feature and explore ways to make it easier to add items using voice commands or AI assistance.
Bringing Sustain-a-Bell to Life: Design Development
Visual Design
Our visual design was grounded in four keywords: Sustainable, Efficient, Motivating, and Healthy. We wanted the app’s look and feel to reflect our mission of promoting responsible food consumption.
Branding: Sustain-a-Bell
Naming the app took some brainstorming, but we eventually settled on “Sustain-a-Bell,” a reminder for users to adopt sustainable habits in the kitchen.
Final Prototype & Key Learnings
We presented Sustain-a-Bell at Pratt’s Info Show 2023, where it received positive feedback, reinforcing our design decisions and the app’s potential impact on reducing food waste.
Next Steps: Enhancing User Experience
- AI Integration for Personalized Suggestions
To further optimize grocery management and meal planning, we plan to integrate AI for personalized recipe and ingredient recommendations based on user preferences and fridge inventory. - User Testing with Diverse Demographics
We’ll conduct additional testing on the inventory management flow, especially with older users, to ensure clarity and accessibility. Our goal is to simplify the process and refine the design to suit users of all ages. - Adding Micro-Interactions for Enhanced Usability
We’re planning to implement micro-interactions, such as subtle animations, to make the app more interactive and enjoyable to use. These small touches can make the experience feel smoother and more intuitive.
Meet the team
I’m always looking to collaborate and discuss design ideas! Feel free to reach out at nehalsharma1703@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.