Ecological Food-Saving Potential of Mini-Grid Plate with Intelligent System: An Estimation from Canteens at a University in Beijing, China

Food waste (FW) is an increasing concern worldwide, especially for its severe impacts on eco-environmental sustainability. However, the most recent interventions for reducing FW have still been focusing on slogans only, and the invisibility of the food-saving effect for new interventions such as small serving portions or intelligent catering systems, might weaken its application for investors. In this study, we used visual inspection, ecological footprints, and questionnaire survey to evaluate the food-saving potential by 1143 observations and 326 questionnaires at a university in Beijing, China. The results showed that using the new intervention of smaller serving portions coupled with an intelligent catering system, FW at canteens could decrease by 32.4% per year, that means it may reduce the original FW of 6.7 kt per year in Beijing, China. Correspondingly, this amount of reduced FW could equally reduce 24.7 kt of CO2-eq, 1.6 kt of nitrogen loss, 10.4 Mt of water wasted, and 2815.6 hm2 of land use. This study provided a promising alternative for soft persuasion, confirmed the potential of reducing FW and related eco-environmental loads, and increased the visibility of a new food-saving system for investors.