Lim Yu Ling Victoria, Muhammad Faryz Bin Khazid, Ong Jing Ting, Sathappan Aishwarya, Tan Yugin
Academic Advisor: Prof. Adekunle Adeyeye
Reducing food waste in higher education institutes is worth investigating because food wasted in such institutions is significant. We aim to launch our measures in RVRC and eventually expand to other residential colleges in NUS if they are successful. Our goal is to tackle food wastage through both a digital platform and physical measures, by reducing both the amount of food that is cooked but not taken by diners, and the leftovers generated by diners at the end of meal services. We obtained data from caterer Chartwells on the amount of food waste before and after our trial, and conducted a survey on food waste patterns in RVRC to determine the main causes of food wastage. In the survey, nearly half the respondents mentioned that they fail to finish the food on their plate “sometimes” or more frequently. Of those, over half cited portion sizes being too large as a main reason for their plate waste, while over 75% indicated that quality of food was also a factor. Based on these results, we implemented strategies to tackle both significant causes of wastage. We developed a Telegram chatbot to provide an improved channel for diners to provide feedback on their meals. We also introduced a self-serve rice station for diners to adjust their rice portions based on their needs, and allowed free takeaway of meals during the end of a meal service to reduce leftovers. Our trial produced promising results for self-serve rice stations as an immediate means of reducing food waste, and for the Telegram chatbot as a way to improve the quality of dining hall food, thereby reducing wastage caused by diner dissatisfaction.
Keywords: Food, Food Waste, Dining Hall, Chatbot, Telegram