Shoppers will be given a mobile phone app to track what food they bin after Sainsbury’s warned customers are ‘in denial’ about how much they throw away.
The supermarket giant is testing the technology that will advise families on how to adjust their weekly shop as part of a new war on waste. But research by the supermarket found four in five families believe they waste little or no food.
Every time customers put out-of-date food or leftovers in the bin, the app records how much and what type of food is being thrown away. It then calculates how much money has been wasted on things not eaten and over time works out if particular items, such as bagged salads or bananas for example, are regularly bought but never used.
The app, which is based on technology used to track food waste in restaurant kitchens, is being tested by customers, including a group of three MPs, before Sainsbury’s looks to roll it out nationwide.
Initial trials have found in just a month, the tracking device helped families reduce their food waste by an average of 68 per cent, meaning they could save up to £258 a year.
The most commonly wasted foods were fruit and vegetables with over-sized portions prepared for meals the most popular reason for the wastage.
Using a set of digital scales, food waste is quickly weighed before being placed in the bin. Details are then entered on the app that records the type of product, the weight and the reason for it being thrown away, such as excessive portion sizes or burnt during cooking.
The app, which is called Winnow, keeps track of waste over time and is updated with the latest prices of products at Sainsbury’s so it can work out the value of food thrown away.
At the end of the week, it gives a report with both the financial cost of the waste and information on how it could be cut down.
So over time it might flag that a customer is binning carrots every week, because they do not get around to using them, so they know to adjust their shop.
Or, if someone is regularly throwing away burnt foods, they will be told to adjust cooking times.