YESCOMPOST

What it does

In the UAE, over 38% of the food made daily is wasted, this value goes up to 60% in Ramadan. YesCompost smart home food control will allow manage the lifecycle and end-of-life of food while promoting a healthy and sustainable living, promoting circular economy

Your inspiration

The UAE is one of the top countries in the world in food waste generation per capita. Emirati generosity in food especially during grand occasions like "Eid" always results in accidental food waste. Thereby, contradicts the sustainable development goal “Zero Hunger “, and “Sustainable cities and communities”. While conducting Design Thinking sessions at the innovation lab with our supervisor Eng. Evelyn Giraldo, we wanted to address this issue while not compromising this special trait of generosity in the Emirati culture. Users can donate the soil to ministry of climate change and environment for the plants at public or governmental areas.

How it works

The yescompost! Solution has 2 components. The first one aims at prevention of food waste, through a smart app to plan and manage grocery shopping through barcode scanning, checking available stock in the fridge (groceries list), expiration date notifications and customized recommendations on recipes with products about to expire. It will also have a feature to share or donate a product that is overstocked or that will not be consumed. The second component aims at impact mitigation with our safe indoor portable compost bin that turns food waste into healthy soil using. The device's mechanism is by crushing the food in a rotational motion and spontaneously mixing, then notifying the user when the compost is ready for home farming.

Design process

First component of this smart food management concept is a mobile app that will allow family members to plan and management food lifecycle while enjoying a interactive user experience learning about nutrition, food consumption and also connecting with a community environmentally conscious peers. Second part is an IoT-enabled compost bin. The design of the prototype, we used the design thinking. We started by observing the problem and empathizing with the different stakeholders inside the problem, to understand their needs. Then ideation step as this is meant to be used by a customer segment that is usually very busy (working professionals, landlords) the design has to be very easy-to-assemble. Also, visually appealing for an indoor space. According to our observations, most users do not have the time to manipulate food-waste at home so the device must be a Blackbox design where the experience is frictionless for the user. Then, we enhanced the idea by including internal systems to mix in vital oxygen and moisture to produce an aerobic environment. Air and heat will be spread throughout the pile as it is lifted & pushed, promoting rapid decomposition. As the material begins to break down, the pile will begin to contract, which accelerates cooling without further compost breakdown

How it is different

We believe the YesCompost! app is key of the innovation because it addresses the problem from the root cause, which is food overstocking. This application for food management is not currently in the market, some weight tracking apps focus on fitness and wellness but not on food/pantry lifecycle and this information is easily available from supermarkets. The yesCompost! app it will help educate the users, create consciousness and actions as this is more a problem in habits, promote a healthier lifestyle, home farming, circular economy and ultimately fight food scarcity in the world. As for the smart compost bin, it uses a different mechanism for aeration and sealing from the ones already available in the market (research details cannot be disclosed at this time).

Future plans

We are hoping to find the best prototyping and fabrication materials for the design of a PoC and updating our application regularly, also designing the best filters for it. Our ultimate goal is to promote zero food-waste in the UAE and helping fight food scarcity around the world.

Awards