Multiple measures have been taken to fight food waste, but a young man is making a big difference with technology. Liu Jichen, a student from Tsinghua University, has developed a Wechat mini-program
called Clear Your Plate. After a meal. users can open the mini-program and take a picture of their empty plates. Once the image is recognized by the AI, students can collect points and use them to buy gifts or charity meals which will be donated to children in poor rural areas. Liu and his team launched the Clear Your Plate campaign in November, 2020 for the third year. It has swept over 1, 017 universities across the country. The one-month campaign attracted almost 1. 6 million participants and collectively reduced food waste by 862 tons and carbon emissions by 3, 337 tons.
The idea, to develop such a mini-program came from Liu's experience in a canteen. In 2017, he found that a restaurant would give diners who finished off their food a card and offer small gifts after a certain number of cards had been collected. “Technological innovation is a good way to reduce food waste, ”Liu thought. He organized a team of 20 members to work on the proiect at the end of 2017. To solve the AI's problem of identifying photos of empty plates, the team spent half a year collecting over 100, 000 samples in canteens and restaurants. In 2018. the mini-program was officially put into operation. They then launched a campaign later that year.
There were so many unknowns in research and development. For our team members. the biggest psychological challenge was whether we were confident enough to complete it, ”said Liu
Now, they have achieved their goal, and the mini-program has more than five million registered users.
“We hope that our efforts can start a new trend among the younger generation by encour- aging them to cherish their food and develop the habit of thrift(节约)，” Liu said. “ Through the campaign， we hope to inspire everyone to take action against food waste and contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to global food security challenges. ”
