Eliminating food wastage through technology : free food

Abstract

As the world becomes more urbanized, the quality of life improves, leading to opportunities such as better employment and education. However, urbanization also leads to a major problem - waste production. Dubbed as a throw-away nation, Singapore has seen increasing trends in waste production, and a decreasing trend in recycling over the years. This paper aims to document the development of OKShare, an Android and iOS application, that hopes to reduce the amount of waste produced by utilizing the growing “sharing economy”. The application allows Singapore residents to share their unwanted items that are still in good condition with others who want them. Features of the application include the sharing and requesting of items, displaying of donation and e-waste points within Singapore, and a discussion forum to encourage the exchange of ideas and knowledge on topics regarding waste management. Debugging and functional testing were conducted to ensure that the application is optimized and in working condition while meeting the needs of end-users. To understand the user’s acceptance level of the application, a user study was conducted on users who were exposed to the application.