- Restaurants and grocery stores are using AI to reduce food waste.
- Between 30 and 40 percent of food grown in the United States goes uneaten and is thrown into the trash.
- To combat this, companies are training AI to analyze food waste, inventory and purchasing.
Artificial intelligence isn’t just coming for your job. It also comes for your trash cans.
Restaurants and grocery stores are now using AI to evaluate the food they throw away to combat food waste, The New York Times reported.
Food waste is a big problem. Between 30 and 40 percent of food grown in the United States goes uneaten and is thrown away, Business Insider previously reported. Much of this wasted food ends up in a landfill instead of being composted.
To combat this and other factors contributing to massive waste, companies are training AI to analyze restaurant waste and grocery store purchases to determine which foods – and how much – are being thrown away. They can then use this data to decide whether to buy less of a given product based on how much is sold or consumed rather than thrown away.
Afresh, for example, uses AI to monitor grocery store inventory and purchases. The company aims to “eliminate food waste and make nutritious food more accessible,” according to CEO Matt Schwartz.
Winnow takes a similar approach to restaurants. The company installs cameras above trash cans, which AI then monitors to assess what food is going to waste and how much is thrown away.
With this data in hand, restaurants can shift to smaller portions of food that are thrown away. Or even remove these items from the menu altogether. The company claims to have helped restaurant kitchens reduce purchasing costs by up to 8% by monitoring waste and combating waste.
The problem of food waste is real, especially given the growing global population, which is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050. People living in poverty spend 50-80% of their income on food alone, according to the United Nations Environment Program. And reducing food waste could reduce pressure on water supplies and reduce deforestation, the agency says.
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