Oregon researcher explores AI solution for reducing household food waste

(MAY 5, 2023) A person at a university in Oregon called Patrick Donnelly has been given money to create a clever compost bin. This bin will keep track of the food waste that people throw away at home. The project wants to solve a big problem in the United States. Each year, more than one-third of all the food produced in the country is not eaten. This costs a lot of money. 

Patrick Donnelly, who is a professor of computer science at Oregon State University, and his team want to make a smart kitchen bin with artificial intelligence (AI) that can tell how much food is being wasted. They will change the design of existing compost bins that people already use. When people throw away their food, the bin will ask them what they threw away.  The bin will also take pictures and use sensors to measure the food waste. This will help create a new way of understanding food waste using computer vision. 

The United States wastes over $400 billion worth of food each year. This is bad for many reasons. It is a waste of money and is also bad for the environment. Donnelly and his team hope that their compost bin will help people understand how much food they are wasting. By using the data they collect, people can change their behavior and throw away less food.