Food Waste Capstone Concept

foodwaste_capstone_concept.md

Capstone Concept - Hannah van Seeters

Problem Statement #1

40% of food waste is generated from the food produced in the US. From that amount, 40% of that is produced from food retailers and restuarants. It is one area, where efficiency could be hugely improved. It would be a dream come true if there was a city-wide program where retailers and restaurants could post blemished produce, and other food for foodbanks and groups in need to come and pick up. By creating this app, retailers and restaurants would be able to track their waste, keep track of donations for tax purposes, and more than anything not have food go to waste! On the flip side, food banks, have more available resources to utilize extra food before it goes to waste and provide a greater selection for their customers.

MVP Feature Set

1. Map lookup
   • Nonprofits and foodbanks can see where the closest stores are donating food.
2. Search bar
   • Nonprofits and foodbanks can also directly search by product to see if any store locations are giving away those specific products.
3. Barcode Scanner
   • Make it easy for retailers to post food items by simply scanning their item.
4. PLU Loop
   • Retailers to post produce items easily by typing in PLU.
5. History of transactions
   • Retailers can keep track of when, to who, and what items were donated for tax purposes.

Potential Additional Features

1. History of Available Food

   • Retailers can keep track of how much food waste they produced, and how much they were able to donate, helping to manage inventory.

2. Selection categories from fresh to shelf stable

   • Nonprofits and Foodbanks can look up items by shelf-stable and fresh.

Draft Technology Choices

• Front End: React Native -via Android Device
• Backend API: Python and Flash
• Database: Postgres
• Develop PLU library
• React Native Camera for UPC Scanner

Additional content, diagrams, wireframes, user flows, etc.

Link, attach, or insert any additional content here.

Similar apps around the world:

• Waste No Food (San Francisco)
• FoodCloud (Ireland and the UK)

This seems like a good-sized project for capstone. I want a little bit more definition about how you are setting up the barcode scanner as it is part of your MVP. What can they scan? What are you matching the barcode to?