FOOD RESCUE / GOOGLE & SAINSBURY'S

Creative Partner: B-Reel, London

My Role: Producer and Executive Producer, B-Reel

Type of Project: Intensive R&D, scoping + prototype, HTML5, Responsive design, Google Speech API, Google App Engine, custom systems design


4.2 millions tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK. Everyone hates wasting food and the guilt that comes with it. To help families in the UK to stop wasting food, B-Reel Creative teamed up with Google & Sainsbury’s to create “Food Rescue”.

At the beginning of what became an 18 month long project, the initial brief from Google was to explore the creative possibilities of Google APIs and products as a way to showcase interesting new ways brands can communicate digitally.

With Sainsbury’s onboard, we looked at how we could apply our research and help build a movement around the problem of food wastage. Sainsbury's Food Rescue is an idea for a simple web tool that helps you find recipes to use up food that may otherwise go to waste and it’s really simple!

Talking to your mobile or desktop, say the ingredients you already have in your fridge and want to rescue. The Food Rescue tool will serve up the most relevant recipes for you to cook. Finally an efficient way to save time, money and those forgotten vegetables at the back of your fridge!

To help people feel they are making a difference, Food Rescue tracks how much food is rescued and how much money is saved for every recipe cooked. The information is then collated and visualised over a map of the UK. Participants can see how much they are collectively rescuing in their own city, county and the country as a whole.