Food waste is a global problem. Not only is food waste morally wrong, but it also massively impacts the environment. Dumping food doesn’t just waste money, it also has a heavy impact on our climate. Approximately 25% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions are created by food waste, which is unfathomable to me. This is where Ovie’s Smartware comes in as it’s an American company that launched a new line of smart containers. Ovie was founded with a clear goal: reduce food waste. Each of these containers has special tags, the so-called Smart Tags, which show the freshness of the product stored in the container.
How does Smartware work?
The way Smartware works is rather straightforward. As mentioned above, each of these containers has special tags, the so-called Smart Tags, which show the freshness of the product stored in the container. After tagging the food container, you have to input what kind of food it is on the Ovie app. Then, the app registers the food and starts a countdown for each food on the app. If the marker is glowing green, then the product is fit for consumption. If it turns yellow, then the product is still edible but it should be consumed as soon as possible. However, when it becomes red the food in the container should be discarded.
What kind of features does Smartware include?
The Ovie Smartware offers several convenient features. The features that stand out to me the most are 1) You can download the Ovie Smartware app which can send notifications when the food is starting to spoil, as seen below
2) The app contains a fridge overview. The foods that are registered with the Smart Tag are tracked in the app. You can change how long you’re storing your food in here and it will update the tag in your fridge.
3) The app is connected to an outside recipe database which allows you to search what you’re craving and filter results by the food in your fridge.
My take on Smartware
I believe that this product is exceptionally impressive. It’s extremely handy to know exactly when your food is going to spoil. Especially in a time where one-third of all food produced is either lost or wasted, having such a product prevalently used in our society could substantially decrease food waste. The prices that come with the product aren’t out of worldly either. The basic kit which including the SmartTags costs only 35$. In my opinion that is worth the money considering that the average US family wastes 1,500$ each year throwing out food. In conclusion, Smartware is a great overall investment considering the price, no impact on the climate, and the features it brings.
Sources:
Ovie Smarterware: smart food containers :: AGDLab.pl
Ovie Smarterware: The First Connected Food Storage System by Ovie — Kickstarter
Very interesting article, also this product seems to be really fascinating. The problem of wasting food nowadays is a big one. Especially when we buy a lot of food “to spare” because “maybe one day we will use it”. I can say from my own experience that a few times I bought a product that I simply forgot about because I was eating something else and I thought that the expiration date will not be over for a long time. After some time, unfortunately, its expiration date passed and I had to throw it away. I know this is not something to boast about. It seems to me that an application on the phone – which we use nowadays practically all the time – would be very useful and helpful.
I am curious how the company will deal with the process of entering the expiration date into the device. Scanning the expiration date through the camera on phone would be an attractive option, since the manual entry of the expiration date seems to me to be very tedious and time-consuming, we would quickly throw this product into a corner. I also wonder what the price of such a device would be. However, we are able to keep a lot of products in the fridge or cupboards, so a pack of tags would be a useful option
I am curious how this will develop and whether people will be interested in at least trying to reduce food waste. It would definitely be a step in the right direction.