Sur+ to reduce and valorize food residue streams

What it does

Food waste and famine are worldwide problems. Therefore, a triage system can help food banks and food aid organizations to valorize fruits and vegetables that no longer meet (cosmetic) standards, but are still perfectly edible for human consumption.

Your inspiration

SDG12.3 claims that food waste generated by retailers should be halved by 2030. I personally contacted a large retailer in Belgium, named Colruyt Group. They do want to upgrade more of their food waste but are encountering several obstacles. This led me to Foodsavers, which are food surplus distribution platforms active in Flanders, which enable a circular chain. This organization is active within the social economy where I started to look at how I could support the employees to start sorting the food surpluses by quality for further food processing, in addition to offering food assistance to disadvantaged people.

How it works

Within an ergonomic workstation, fruits and vegetables are controlled on quality. The inspection will be done by comparing the physical characteristics and ripening stages of the food with pictures and text displayed on information sheets. Each information sheet is structured according to a predefined framework. It is important that the communication to the employees happens in a simple, visual and unambiguous way. In addition to the sheets for evaluating fruit and vegetables, there are also general sheets available that are useful when controlling products other than fruit and vegetables. The information sheets are placed at the right height in the workstation by a holder. Thanks to Sur+, employees are able to sort fruit and vegetables that are still good for processing into new food products, but are no longer suitable for immediate consumption. By being processed into another food product or meal, these fruits and vegetables are saved from the waste stream.

Design process

The design process was preceded by in-depth research. In order to properly identify the problems and needs of the target group several in-depth interviews were conducted with multiple stakeholders. After it was clear what the target group needed, several iterations of ideas building on the previous feedback were presented to some stakeholders. An ergonomic workstation was explored by rebuilding a full-size workstation with banana boxes. In addition, a prototype of the holder in MDF and cardboard was made to test its true size against the size of an EPS crate. And of course, the information sheets themselves were also designed and tested for their comprehensibility. Prototypes of different formats were made with different iterations of layout. Eight employees of Foodsavers Antwerp were asked whether the information on the sheets and the layout were clear. The feedback came from real users who evaluated the terminology, layout and information. Finally, a predefined template for the information sheets was worked out in Adobe Indesign and the holder was worked out according to sheet metal in SolidWorks. The holder and the production of all parts from sheet metal were presented to two metal manufacturing companies to see if they could be manufactured as drawn in SolidWorks.

How it is different

Today there is virtually no support for the social economy employees in sorting and checking the surplus food. Since they also operate within the social or non-profit economy, there is only a limited budget available. That is why "a minimum viable product" was sought and why the information sheets are developed. These are currently the most straightforward to implement by any Foodsavers, as well as food banks and aid organizations, without a large investment cost. In addition, fruit and vegetables do not have a use-by or best-before date, which makes it difficult to assess whether these surpluses are still good and for how long. In addition, the social economy employees in Belgium often have a lack of knowledge of Dutch and have different cultural backgrounds, which makes it difficult for them to agree on when a fruit or vegetable is still tasty and good or not.

Future plans

The main focus was to develop the overarching system and the predefined template that can be fulfilled for all fruits and vegetables. Currently, only two information sheets, one for bananas and one for broccoli, have been developed. The template created for fruit and vegetables should be completed for more products. Before producing Sur+, a pilot test should be set up to test the use of the information sheets, the holder and the working station all together. In addition, Foodsavers would first need to find partners willing to process the stream suitable for immediate processing before the information sheets of Sur+ can be meaningful.

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