Using smart bin to tackle food waste

给智能垃圾桶称重 减少食物浪费

This commercial kitchen in central London prepares one-and-a-half thousand meals a day. It provides catering for a museum and a conference centre.

这家位于伦敦市中心的商用厨房每天要做1500多份饭菜，供应给一家博物馆和一个会议中心。

Kitchens like these typically throw away 20% of the ingredients they buy. Some are thrown away as trimmings even though they are edible. And sometimes food ends up in the bin simply because it's not needed after all.

像这样的商用厨房一般会扔掉其所采购食材总量的20%。部分剩下的配料虽然可以食用但仍被丢弃。有时甚至仅因为不再需要某配料而将之丢弃。

To stop this happening, this kitchen has been using a new piece of technology which can simply be connected to a normal bin on scales. This is what's known as a smart bin. Kitchen staff use it like a supermarket self-checkout. The idea is to keep an accurate digital record of the food being thrown out. This helps the head chef make more informed choices.

为了阻止此类情况的发生，这家厨房使用了一种把垃圾筒和电子秤相连接的新技术。这就是所谓的“智能垃圾箱”。厨房工作人员像使用超市自助结账系统一样，用它来保存丢弃食物量的准确数字记录，从而帮厨师长作出更明智的食材选择。