Any ideas?

Yesterday we were talking about Indiana, today it’s Brazil. Earlier this week I got an e-mail from a friendly Sao Paulo industrial design student named Luiz Augusto Moreira. Luiz tells me that food waste is a serious problem in Brazil, as well.

Banco de Alimentos, a non-govermental organization that recovers food for the hungry, says 39 million kilograms of food are wasted every day. Meanwhile, 75 million Brazilians are hungry, more than double the U.S. figure–and Brazil has a third fewer people than the U.S! 

As an aside, if there were a way to do so online, I’d have already purchased one of these hot t-shirts benefiting Banco de Alimentos.

Anyway, Luiz is interested in developing a product that would reduce food waste. I told him I’d post his query for discussion. So…any ideas for this well-intentioned student? It can be for anywhere in the food chain, from farms to family dinners. Submit your thoughts as comments below.

Because Luiz mentioned that he was intrigued by the Replate scheme that urges people to leave their leftovers atop trash cans for the hungry to eat, here’s my (far-fetched) idea: Since the main concerns with Replate are the food going bad sitting out in the sun and the potential mess when rodents get into the food, how about designing a sealed, refrigerated trash-top box. It’d be solar powered, of course! I’m picturing a pizza box size container with a door on top to insert donations. In keeping with Replate’s name, the box could even feature an affixed white plate inside.