websites are not only be accessed by computers with a large screen.
They were mostly accessed via mobile devices such as tablets and
smartphones that relatively have smaller screen size. Almost every
website has their different style and visual appearance concerning
content and information delivery. Even though they were visually looked
different, they were mostly designed and developed by using one of one
column, two columns, or three columns layout. The way to properly
deliver content and information on a smaller screen size becomes a
challenging matter. Responsive Web Design approach allows a single web
page to be differently visualized based on the screen size of the
accessing device. Such layout changing may affect the amount of
information to be displayed on the screen, hence affecting the
effectiveness and efficiency of information delivery in a web page. This
study compares the effectiveness and efficiency of a web page that is
being displayed on a computer screen, tablet, and smartphones. How the
implementation of Materials Design Guidelines and User-Centered Design
approaches in the design process may affect the effectiveness and
efficiency of content and information delivery of a web page on smaller
screens were also evaluated and presented. This research shows that User
Centered Design and Material Design Guidelines improve the
effectiveness and efficiency of content delivery on both tablet and
smartphone. Materials Design Guidelines provide better usability
improvement than User Centered Design approach for the smartphone screen
regarding content delivery efficiency for web pages designed in three
columns layout.
The UCD approach focuses on systems development being driven by the user’s requirements instead of technical requirements. Design should depend on measures of how well the product has been used by highlighting user’s interaction and by making use of an iterative prototyping development process. When the methodology is applied to the user as the center of application; the users must be identified and analyzed by the user modeling. A user model has to be an integral part of any interactive system. A user model is different from both the actual knowledge possessed by a user and knowledge employed by system designers .
There are several modeling techniques: user roles, user segments, extreme characters , personas, etc. User roles and user segments are not particularly useful for developing user scenarios and for accommodating different users in a single project. Extreme characters is not a method that makes possible the characterization of real system users. By comparison, personas is a better modeling method based on the identification of characters who typify the system end user
Persona can clear the process which includes determining the functions and content of software and determining their priority. Persona plays an immeasurable role to make decision in advance. When determining the qualitative features and functionalities, persona can be used in brainstorming, to determine the priorities, to guide site structure, content and design. In brainstorming, discuss all the possible features, functionality and content based on the persona's goals, views and behaviors. Through brainstorming, get a list of user functional requirements. By grading the each potential function with persona, it’s very easy to get scientific evaluation results that will be used to sort the all functions by their priority.
The design of Web page should be Internet-user-oriented. The key factor
of a successful Web page design lies in that the designer can find out
counterparts of products in the real world. Another important factor of a
successful-designed web page is that the designer can represent the
products by a combination of harmonious and inducing colors, images and
characters. The pluralistic society nowadays brings about individual
aesthetic need. A unique and individualized emotional design of a web
page can impress Internet users deeply, initiate Internet users to click
promptly and contribute to the establishment of social image and mutual
communication service via a website. This thesis mainly deals with
color emotion, image emotion and character sign emotion in Web page
design. Through a typical example of a Web page design in a Web site,
the aesthetics and application of visual signs of a web page is
discussed. The emotional design of colors, images, and character signs
of a web page are studied. Click Here
Previous study showed that visual and layout are two important influencing factors on web page design Customers may stay or leave those web sites depend on the first impression with the appearance on the web page. Existing work has been performed to study some features of web page format and location appearance on the screen. studied the location occurrence of e-commerce web sites component but did not perform to the other features, nor identify the good design in the e-commerce web sites. . only identified the general web site pattern but did not consider the good design pattern in e-commerce web sites. illustrated that high aesthetic treatment in the web sites will present a professional look and feel appropriate for organization. considered web page segmentation to five blocks for improving search engine techniques. Their results showed better performance when using web page segmentation compare with un-segmentation. implemented VIPS algorithm for segmentation web page by using Dom tree technique and visual format in the web page. Dom tree is initially introduced for representation HTML object rather than semantic or visual meaning. adopted VIPS algorithm for extraction of the product information of e-commerce web sites.
In this section, we organize the web page format before performing classification algorithms. Two steps are used for our preparation. The first step is web page segmentation for dividing the main page into five blocks According to web page segmentation , we can divide the main web page into five blocks: top, bottom, left, right and center as . Hence, we can investigate area relationship of each block within web page. Apart from dividing web page, we consider the important location which is related to e-commerce web sites for using location description. In fact, there are various designs for different e-commerce Web sites. The previous study showed the attracting components on the appropriate location such as main navigation on the top or left, “about us” navigation on the bottom and advertising on the right or top center of the screen. We analyze and synthesize them to the web template. We also identify each area portions of navigation bar, product index, customer service bar, content, news and advertisement. Read More
User-Centered Design is a user-centric approach that focuses on user's needs, behaviors, wants, and limitations in the software development process lifecycle. When end users were involved in the design process, they will help to reduce the lag in information system's usability by focusing on making a product that fit user needs rather than forcing users to change their behavior to accommodate the product . Material Design Guidelines (MDG) is a design language developed by Google in 2014 that provides best practices on how to put user perception and high level of accessibility into a mobile UI design. MDG allows a user to experience a unified experience across different platforms and devices regardless the screen size of all devices in the hope that users will get a better engagement, better UI/UX and cost-effective with the products . Both UCD and MDG offer a better user experience in using a product, hence making a product quality better.
The quality of a product can be measured by its effectiveness and efficiency . The effectiveness of a product is one variable that determines the success of a product . In assessing software product usability, its effectiveness and efficiency of use need to be measured. This research will try to describe how a web page layout transformation on a responsive web page may affect its usability. This study will also try to explain how UCD and MDG will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of content delivery of a web page when it comes to a tablet or smartphone screens. Click Here
Responsive Web Design (RWD) is taking HTML5 and CSS3 web technologies into account in building a responsive web page or front-end layout. Responsive web design uses three main ingredients, i.e., a fluid and flexible grid-based layout, flexible images and media, and a module from CSS3: media queries [1]. Fluid layout assigns relative units to the page elements instead of absolute units like pixels or points. In RWD, the design of a web page can respond to user's needs by adapting it to the constraints of the browser window or device that renders it. Therefore, RWD ensures a web page screen-layout, texts, images, navigation elements, video players, and other UI elements will re-adjust themselves.
mages, videos, and other media types need to be scalable, changing their size as the size of the viewport changes. One quick way to make media scalable is by using an element's max-width property with a value of 100% or specifies the width of the content area as percentages of its viewport [8]. By doing so, when the viewport gets smaller any media will also be scaled down following its container width. Media queries make possible to switch between different style sheets based on the features of the device in which the webpage is rendered, mainly the width of the screen. MoreDetails
ln the present day scenes women safety isconsidered to be the major
problem in both urbanand rur al areas. I t is quite difficult to change
themind-set o f the entire society, but we can provideseveral security
devices f or the women who are facingsexual harassment, acid attacks,
molestation, etc. Forproviding the security, various smart devices
andapplications were developed. Many smart devicesand applications are
also available in the market; but,it doesn’t provide an effective
solution. Experts fromvarious field discovered women’s safety device
whichworks in both manually and automatically. Thisarticle examines
various women safety relatedtechniques. The drawbacks and opportunities
inwomen’s safety devices are also discussed.
Internet o f things (IoT) is influenced with human life in both
knowingly as well as unknowingly. With a help of internet every machine
is controlled, which makes the people life easier. Nowadays girls were
not permitted to move freely in the streets where they abused by
strangers. Parents are distressing about their safety which has become
the first barrier to send t hei r daughters outside. Gradually the women
harassment have been rises. Safety is the most required power for
everybody in today’s world in current generation. In our Country, even
though there is an economic development, but still there are many crimes
happens against women. I n general 86% o f working ladies in India,
facing an obstacle which is greater in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad,
Kolkata,Chennai and Pune, comparatively to other places. Technology is
the finest way to achieve their security. With the help of IOT we can
control and access the machines and things whi ch are connected to the
internet even the distances are too long. Code Shoppy
Without the human-human and computer- human interaction, we can send
and receive information. B u t the harassments, rape, acid attack are
not reduced still.In order to make them safe, a smart device are
developed. Women safety device is specially designed f o r women in case
o f dangerous and emergency situation. The women safety devices should
be very simple, easy to carry and that should be integrated with several
functionalities. The smart phones usage has been drastically increased
in the world. There are several mobile applications and smart devices
are developed by the government and people in order to help the women
when they are in the trouble. Even though, they developed various
devices and applications the rate o f the sexual offenses has not been
decreased. The women safety devices or application should be combined
with a several features which are used in day today life and real
emergency cases
I n a country, Sexual offense happens against to the women and
children. According to National Crime Records Bureau , New Delhi;1. In
2011, over 42968 the criminal assault to women has increased to 84746
cases in 2016.2. Around 309 acid attack cases are produced in the year
2014.3. I n 2011, 24206 rape cases have been enlarged to 38947 cases i n
20164. According to this statistics, around 92 women’ s are raped every
day i n IndiaThe mobile application and smart devices are produced in
the women safety are:A. NotificationNishant Bhardwaj et al., [1]
proposed A Women Safety Device which gives the basic idea of Suraksha
which provides a warning to the police by giving an instant location
when distressed v ic ti m takes place. So the incident could be
prevented.As same as Nandita Viswanath et al., [2] in this article, a
small and low cost device is developed. This device is clipped to the
footwear and i t is triggered automatically when the tapping occurs
behind the other foot four times. The tapping sound is detected by the
light blue bean which is aurdino microcontroll er. Then, the message is
send to the four contact list through the Bluetooth. Naive Basye
classifier is used to analyses the walking and tapping data. By this
technique, accuracy is measured. This device is only useful for a
trained data.Similarly D. G. Monisha et al., [3] Proposed a system which
contain a location tracking mechanism, i t works i f the suffered
person press a single click it sends a SoS message with current location
to pre-set contact o f every 2 minutes, i f the person clicks a button
double times then i t records and sends SOS message and also i t cal ls
to the pre-set contact numbers when the person pressed a button for a
long time.Likewise Dhruv Chand et al., [4] proposed a WoS application is
developed. In this application it requires some basic information about
the user and the emergency contact list. When the person feel some
crisis happens against to them, a not if icati on is send to the
enlisted contacts b y shaking their phone consecutively 40 times (i.e.
upto 8 seconds) or pressing the panic button which is present in the
screen B. Location TrackingVallidevi Krishnamurthy et al., [5] proposed a
work with a women safety application. The mobile application is
developed with a help of object- oriented manner. When women are in
travel form one place to another, she has to activate the continuous
global position system GPS. The GPS continuously tracks their respective
location. In the case o f the danger when she doesn’ t mark herself
safe in particular duration then the SMS alert is send to the registered
contact.Similarly Dantu Sai Prashanth et al., [6] In this article an
application is developed with unique features and all the existing
features has been integrated to make efficient software which is useful
for women safety. This application consists o f dynamic GPS tracking
system and i t also includes spy-camera which is useful to record the
incident .Initially it requires login details and the user has to update
their information from time to time. In this, user has to be registered
to a firebase database wh00ich is used f o r user login authentication
which keeps application more secure. When the user is moving from one
place to another a GPS tracking system is switched on and thus the live
location is also viewed. I t also offers various functionalities like
first aid information, toll free call which is inbuilt. Through dynamic
GPS tracking system the enlisted contacts users who all use the same
application can view the user’ s location.Likewise Sankalp Mehta et al.,
[7] proposed an application. This application gets activated by shaking
the phone .Then the location is identified by GPS and the location is
shared to the emergency contacts. It also provides calling facility,
whenever the guardian phone is in silent mode. Thus i t provides a
calling and message facility to protect them from the incident.C.
Sensors usedPiyush Kumar Verma et al., [8] In This the proposed system
deals with a device which is used for women to protect them from
dangerous person while they are moving out in night and f o r an
independent women also i t is useful. I t consists o f buzzer, pulse
sensor and switch. When the switch is pressed, the device sends a
current locati on o f the women to all the registered contacts and i t
also monitors the pulse rate o f a women. I f the pulse reading is
abnormal, then SMS is sends to a hospital .Thus, the device is used to
protect themselves from a danger and i t is small in size.Similarly
Muskan et al., [9] Describes the women safety device which senses the
human body temperature and heartbeat pattern. The normal heartbeat and
the body temperature are stored in the cloud. When the human heart beat
rate and the temperature are changed, i t denotes that they are in the
trouble Here they use a machine learning algorithm to collect the data.
The collected data is compared with the data which are already stored in
the cloud, when change occurs current locati on o f the women is sent
with the help o f Zigbee mesh network. I t is defined as sending o f
message without the internet access, as zigbee mesh network sends a data
with the help of multiple hop distance.As same as the above work Kal
pana seel amet al., [10] The articles portrays about the safe and
secured electronic framework for women or children which involves an
Arduino controller and sensors, the several sensors used in this system
are temperature, flex sensors, MEMS accelerometer, pulse rate sensor and
sound sensor. The gadget detects body parameters like heartbeat rate,
changes i n temperature, movement o f v i c t i m by flex sensor by flex
sensor and MEMS accelerometer and the voice o f the injured individual
is detected by sound sensor and the locati on is send to the registered
contactsD. Video capturingMohamad Zikriya et al., [11] Gadget is used in
the project. I t is used to capture the image of the culprit who makes a
distrust motion to the independent women, children. Thus the captured
image is sent to the registered email ID. By using the captured image we
can able to find the distrusted person.Similarly, Jismi Thomas et al.,
[12] Proposed the system with a security devices called T o U C H M E N o
T . This portable device is attached to the clothing. This device
consists o f button which is integrated with two modules. The first
module contains a camera which records the short videos to capture the
assailant. The second module is used to send the current locati on to
the f a mily or friends.Likewise Pragna B R et al., [13] a device is
developed. I t consists o f a four button (i.e. red, green, yellow,
blue) .Each button represents one functionalities to protect the person
who is in danger. Red is used for triggering alarm, blue is used to
sending messages, green is used to record audios and yellow is used to
detect hidden cameras. Thus by pressing the various colour buttons the
women can be protected for that instant.
From the above table II, different techniques are proposed to
safeguard the women; those techniques had their own drawbacks;• It is
quite impossible to use a mobile phone during an emergency situation.•
The literature depicts that there are auto detection women safety device
based on parameters such as voice recognition, temperature heart beat
rate are exists, still these system may have a chance o f failure due to
women abnormal health condition.• Though the location is shared to the
faraway people it proceeds time to reach the spots.
We use Li-Fi Transceivers placed at both trimmings of the corridor
and on the cart to assemble material on the appearance/exit status of
the cart and the bay certification. Moreover the locating of these Li-Fi
Trans- earphones on the shop cart and on the pathways will be crucial
to the correct working of shop cart. Further, as Li-Fi equipment works
on line of eyesight, it is main to ensure that there is no obstruction
in the entry or exit of each aisle. All the product material is stored
in a folder at a central server with the location data IP. We will
record the ID, appellation and the price of the product. Li-FI
transceivers are used to inimitably ascertain products.
PIC is a family of modified Harvard construction complete by computer
chip technology, derived from the PIC1650 originally developed by
General Instrument’s microelectronics division. The name PIC firstly was
referred to bordering boundary controller. It can store upto 35
instruction set and can only recognize hex values. Primary images of PIC
had read-only memory (ROM) or field-programmable EPROM for program
storage, some with facility for removing memory. All current models
convention Flash memory for program storage, and newer models permit the
PIC to reprogram itself. Sequencer memory and data. Data recall is
8-bit, 16-bit and in up-to-date models. 32-bit wide. Program plans vary
in bit-count by family of PIC, and may be 12, 14, 16, or 24 bits long.
The directions set also varies by model, with more firm chips tally
advices for digital signal giving out occupations. The hardware
capabilities of PIC devices range from 8-pin DIP chips up to 100 pin
SMD[2-3] chips, with disconnected I/O pins, ADC and DAC elements and
public services ports such as UART, 12C, CAN, and even USB. Low-power
and high-speed dissimilarities exist for countless sorts. The producer
materials supercomputer software for progress known as MPLAB, assemblers
and C/C++ compilers, and program hardware under the MPLAB and PICK it
series. Third party and some open-source tools are also available. Some
parts have in-circuit software design capability; low-cost expansion
computer operator are accessible as well has high-production computer
operator. PIC devices are popular with both industrial developers and
hobbyists due to their low cost, wide availability, large user base,
widespread assembly of application notes, and availability of low cost
or free advance tools, sequential programming, and re-programmable
Flash-memory ability. Click Here
Li-Fi stands for Light-Fidelity. Li-Fi expertise, proposed by the
German physicist—Harald Haas, provides program of datathrough brightness
by transfer data complete an LED light bulb that diverges in power
sooner than the hominoid eye can follow. This paper efforts on evolving a
Li-Fi based system and studies its act with respect to prevailing
technology. Wi-Fi is great for general wireless coverage within
buildings, although Li-Fi is ideal for high stupidity wireless data
reporting in restricted area and for sacking receiver prying issues.
Li-Fi runs improved bandwidth, efficiency, proximit and safety than
Wi-Fi and has now realized blisteringly high quickness in the lab. By
leveraging the low cost nature of LEDs and lighting units there are many
occasions to deed this midway, from public internet access done street
lamps to auto-piloted cars that interconnect through their headlights.
Haas visualizes future where data for laptops, smart earphones, and
tablets will be communicated through the light in a room.
With the continued development and economicgrowth, Bangladesh needs
to be digitalized in every way possible. In this paper, RFID based
Automated Toll Collection System is introduced as a solution of the
traffic problems and also to maintain transparency in the toll
collection system. The proposed system aims to make a digital toll
collection system which can eliminate the delay on toll roads, toll
bridges and toll tunnel without cash and without requiring cars to stop.
This paper focuses on an electronic toll collection system which uses
radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to identify a vehicle
specifically for collecting toll.
The proposed RFID system uses tags that are mounted on the digital
number plate of the vehicles, through which information embedded on the
tags are read by RFID readers. It is possible to reduce the need for
vehicle owners and toll collection authorities to distribute tickets and
collect tolls manually in this system Information on the toll payment
can also be easily exchanged between the vehicle owners and toll
authorities. As a result, transparency in toll payment can be ensured
with reduced manual labor and human errors. Thus, building smart
transportation system will become easier.
In this century, people live a life which is solely dependent on
technology. New innovations are made to make out life less demanding,
calm and more agreeable. The primary goal of advancement has been to
extend capability and diminishing effort. In the present scenario, the
world is straightly moving towards automation. Automation is the use of
various management systems for running instruments such as- machinery
processes in factories, boilers, and heat treating ovens, change on
telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, craft and
different applications and vehicles with possibly reduced human
interventions and better accuracy [1]. Highways or Toll Roads are
provided to enhance the traffic, improve the distribution of goods and
services, and increase mobility and accessibility of people. The problem
starts when there is long queue. This queue occurs because the arriving
rate of vehicles to toll gates is much higher than the servicing rate
[2]. This congestion will lead to wasting time for wait, incendiary fuel
combustion, and air pollution caused by vehicle exhaust [3].
Utilization of automated toll collection gate will help to improve the
toll service by saving time, saving fuel & reducing gas emission. Code Shoppy
In the proposed system RFID reader will read the RFID tags that are
mounted on vehicles and the system will automatically deduct a specific
amount of toll from the scanned tag id with the help of the database. As
there is no need for vehicles to stop or toll authorities to manually
collect the tolls, this system eliminates the traffic jam and possible
human errors that normally happen in a toll collecting system making it a
more efficient process.
Arduino Mega R3 2560: Arduino Mega R3 2560 is the microcontroller
used for the project. The Arduino Mega R3 2560 is a board based on the
ATmega2560 microcontroller. It is the most important component of our
system all processing takes place in these block [8]. Different
microprocessors and controllers are component of various models of
Arduino. The board supplied has many pins that can be used to interact
with various appliances and boards.
RFID Reader:A RFID reader is a tool used to gather data from an RFID
tag to track individual items. This low-cost MFRC522-based RFID reader
module is simple to use and can be used in a variety of
applications.Performance of an RFID system depends on several factors
such as the orientation of tag, the material of the item to which a tag
is attached, and the environment in which the system operates [9].RFID
tags contain a distinctive code that distinguishes the vehicle class
that passes through the tariff port.The RFID tag is inserted in the
vehicle.Every vehicle has a distinctive identity that can be readily
identified by the RFID reader. On the other hand, the RFID reader reads
all RFID tags to get their unique ID numbers, and the Arduino is
programmed to recognize only some RFID tags, enabling only registered
tag cars
Servo Motor: A servomotor is a rotary actuator or linear actuator
enabling accurate angular or linear position, acceleration speed and
control. It is an appropriate position feedback engine in combination
with a sensor.Motor driver is an IC which is used to drive the motor
[10].We also use it to pull up and down the toll square’s passing door.
It is an engine with 3-pin energy, cable control and hardware mounting.
It is rotating at 180 degrees.
LCD Display (16*2): An LCD is an electronic screen module that uses
liquid crystal to create a visible picture. This 16×2 LCD display is a
very fundamental module that is very frequently used in various systems
and circuits.The job of LCD will be to display all the system generated
messages coming from the controller [10]. These modules in various
sections are preferred over 7 sections and other LEDs. There are two
registries in this LCD, Command and Data. The LCD command register
primarily stores the instructions provided to the LCD while the
information register allows the information to be displayed on the LCD.
Acting on the food wastage, can be considered to be having a
significant impact on achieving the sustainability goals and can also be
a vital auxiliary measure to counteract the imbalance in the global
food availability and distribution. This paper tries to summarize from
the available data, the global, the national and the community level
food wastage scenarios. With a focus on the food wastage due to ‘over
consumption’ as one of the high potential source for reduction and the
behavioral aspects and habits as obstacles to the goal of
sustainability, describes a study conducted by students in a local
community to identify and quantify the avoidable food waste at consumer
level and proposes that awareness of sustainable living patterns as a
superordinate goal.
Food is a basic need for the survival and it is estimated that the
world population is to hit 9 billion by 2050 [1] demanding the enhanced
production of this basic commodity by 60 to 70% [2]. An enhancement that
will be a further burden on the planetary resources and subsequent rise
in the carbon footprints. The Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition in
Belgium says climate change will contribute to increasing global food
prices within a range of 3-84 percent by 2050 [3], posing a serious
threat to food production and security. As per the Food Authority
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) presently enough food is being
produced globally, however at the same time hunger and food wastage are
the two paradoxical dismays to be confronted globally. The average food
supply for one person in the world is around 580 kilograms. Of this
around 380 kilograms is consumed, 140 kilograms is lost in production
and 50 kilograms is wasted by consumers [2]. In other words, one third
of the food produced annually meant for human consumption gets lost or
wasted [4]. At global level this wastage translates to 1.3 billion
tonnes of food wasted per year. According to the World’s Food Aid
Foundation, available world-hunger-statistics, about one ninth of the
population accounting to 800 million people in the world suffer from
starvation. The data indicates that even if one fourth of the current
wastage can be saved, it is sufficient to feed 870 million hungry people
in the world [5].
In the production of food many resources are required. A country’s
food requirement in equivalent resources unit can be roughly converted
to 10 percent of the total energy budget, 50 percent of land used, and
80 percent of freshwater consumption. In addition to these fertilizers
and pesticides are also used. And on the global front the same can be
converted to 70% of planet’s fresh water withdrawals, 80% of the world’s
tropical and subtropical deforestation and 30 to 35% of human caused
greenhouse gas emissions [6]. It is estimated that with the present
level of global food wastage results in about 30% wastage of available
agricultural land used. The wasted food amounts also contribute to the
releases of greenhouse gas equivalent to 3.3 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide every year. If food waste were a country it would be the third
largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, after China and U.S.
There are not many research/ scholarly publications available on food
waste in UAE. However, the available literature on this topic in the
form of reports and articles published by newspapers is utilized to
comprehend the UAE food waste scenario. According to the 2014 statistics
from The National, Massar Solutions and the UN about 3.27 million
tonnes of food is wasted every year equivalent to 350 kg per person. In
Abu Dhabi, 39 percent of the municipal waste generated (about 400,000
tonnes each year) is leftover food discarded by residents/ households,
whereas Dubai Municipality’s estimates nearly 38 percent of food is
wasted every day, which goes up to 55 percent during Ramadan. In 2016,
the municipality recorded 27 per cent of waste produced in Dubai as
organic food, consisting mainly of 88.8 per cent food. Cutting food
waste by 15% would have the same impact on carbon dioxide emissions as
taking 150,000 cars off the road. According to a survey done in 2012 by
YouGov, an international internet-based market research firm, 78 percent
of respondents in the UAE admitted that they throw away food each week.
Nearly 65 percent believed their food waste had no or little
consequence on the environment. 67% believe more awareness and
educational campaigns will reduce food wastage.
Food waste is increasingly a matter of national and international
concern. To highlight a few, in the USA, programs such as the Food Waste
Reduction Alliance and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food
Recovery Challenge seek to both reduce and recycle food waste and to
re-distribute usable but about-to-be-discarded food to those who need
it. The French Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry, and Forestry
recently launched a National Pact Against Food Waste, with the goal of
reducing food waste in France by 50 percent by 2025. In 2016 France
became the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away unsold
food, punishing them with fines of up to €75,000 if they refused to
donate it to food banks or charities instead. Great Britain’s “Love Food
Hate Waste” program – which aims at establishing a “zero waste economy”
– has reduced British food waste by 21 percent over the past five years
[1,8]. In July 2016, The Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen
approved the world’s first food loss and waste standard, which was
thrashed out by a committee including the UN Environmental Program
(UNEP), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO) and the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development, thus resolving – the lack
of internationally agreed norms for establishing the shape and nature
of the problem. The standard sets criteria for defining, measuring and
reporting the food waste problem which can be applied to countries and
companies alike. This standard will set a baseline for action and
measure how much food is not making it to our mouths [9]. In the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), the food waste management policies launched and
operative to combat the problem of food wastage are, way back in 2010
the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) had aimed
to reduce the amount of hospitality waste going to landfills by 20% as a
first step in its environmental program. Abu Dhabi’s Centre of Waste
Management (CWM) implemented an initiative called the NADAFA Program
(which means “cleanliness” in Arabic) to monitor and control all
waste-related activities for the commercial, industrial, and
construction sectors. In the UAE, the Red Crescent Society (RCS)
operates the “Hefth Al Ne’ma” program (which means “looking after
blessings” in Arabic, 2012) as a result of which the public can call the
Society and schedule a free pick up of untouched leftover food [10]. In
December 2017, as a part of the outreach initiatives to engage the
public, ‘My Environment, My National Responsibility’ exhibition
organized by UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE)
campaigned on the need to adopt a sustainable lifestyle to preserve the
planet for future generations. The authorities also suggested that a
community effort across the country is needed to show restraint when
cooking up huge food presentations for home guests or customers. Along
with the UAE Food Bank Dubai Municipality, is calling for “zero
tolerance” towards food waste from consumers and the food industry as a
major drive to tackle food waste. To come closer to the goal, the Dubai
Municipality has recently teamed up with UK-based Winnow, a startup that
provides smart meters in hotels that helps kitchens cut food waste in
half by automatically measuring what’s put in the trash bin. The
collaboration is under the Dubai Future Accelerators program that allows
the private sector to work closely with public entities to co-create
breakthrough solutions for the public good. Dubai Municipality will soon
launch a facility to recycle organic waste. Waste Management Department
at Dubai Municipality, announced fees will apply on landfill gates for
waste trucks of the private sector before the end of 2017. Sorted waste
and recyclable items can cost up to four times less than mixed wastes [3
Along the food chain process, food is lost or wasted in production,
post-harvest, processing, distribution and consumption. Of the total
losses about one-third occurs at the consumer level, where the surplus
is unwanted and disposed and approximately two-thirds happens at the
production and distribution level. In developing countries, the “losses”
are unintentional, mostly attributed to the poor infrastructure
facilities required. In comparison developed countries, the
unintentional losses are low but high levels of “waste” happens at the
consumer level, a high percentage of which can be attributed to over
consumption or buying habits, unclear expiry labels, forgotten storages
and apathetic attitudes of the end user. Food waste isn’t just an
economic issue, wasting food also takes its toll on the environment. The
food waste is nothing but the waste of land, water, energy, labor and
capital resources that are used in the food production. Further safe and
efficient disposal of food waste involves transport, labor and
efficient disposal through a proper eco-friendly waste management system
augments to the acuteness of the problem. The United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA), notes that most wasted food is sent directly to
the landfill where it is a major producer of methane, a potent
greenhouse gas, which is reportedly 25 times more damaging than CO2,
that contributes to climate change.
Food waste is increasingly a matter of national and international
concern. To highlight a few, in the USA, programs such as the Food Waste
Reduction Alliance and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food
Recovery Challenge seek to both reduce and recycle food waste and to
re-distribute usable but about-to-be-discarded food to those who need
it. The French Ministry of Agriculture, Food Industry, and Forestry
recently launched a National Pact Against Food Waste, with the goal of
reducing food waste in France by 50 percent by 2025. In 2016 France
became the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away unsold
food, punishing them with fines of up to €75,000 if they refused to
donate it to food banks or charities instead. Great Britain’s “Love Food
Hate Waste” program – which aims at establishing a “zero waste economy”
– has reduced British food waste by 21 percent over the past five years
[1,8]. In July 2016, The Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen
approved the world’s first food loss and waste standard, which was
thrashed out by a committee including the UN Environmental Program
(UNEP), the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO) and the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development, thus resolving – the lack
of internationally agreed norms for establishing the shape and nature
of the problem. The standard sets criteria for defining, measuring and
reporting the food waste problem which can be applied to countries and
companies alike. This standard will set a baseline for action and
measure how much food is not making it to our mouths [9]. In the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), the food waste management policies launched and
operative to combat the problem of food wastage are, way back in 2010
the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Cultural Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) had aimed
to reduce the amount of hospitality waste going to landfills by 20% as a
first step in its environmental program. Abu Dhabi’s Centre of Waste
Management (CWM) implemented an initiative called the NADAFA Program
(which means “cleanliness” in Arabic) to monitor and control all
waste-related activities for the commercial, industrial, and
construction sectors. In the UAE, the Red Crescent Society (RCS)
operates the “Hefth Al Ne’ma” program (which means “looking after
blessings” in Arabic, 2012) as a result of which the public can call the
Society and schedule a free pick up of untouched leftover food [10]. In
December 2017, as a part of the outreach initiatives to engage the
public, ‘My Environment, My National Responsibility’ exhibition
organized by UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE)
campaigned on the need to adopt a sustainable lifestyle to preserve the
planet for future generations. The authorities also suggested that a
community effort across the country is needed to show restraint when
cooking up huge food presentations for home guests or customers. Along
with the UAE Food Bank Dubai Municipality, is calling for “zero
tolerance” towards food waste from consumers and the food industry as a
major drive to tackle food waste. To come closer to the goal, the Dubai
Municipality has recently teamed up with UK-based Winnow, a startup that
provides smart meters in hotels that helps kitchens cut food waste in
half by automatically measuring what’s put in the trash bin. The
collaboration is under the Dubai Future Accelerators program that allows
the private sector to work closely with public entities to co-create
breakthrough solutions for the public good. Dubai Municipality will soon
launch a facility to recycle organic waste. Waste Management Department
at Dubai Municipality, announced fees will apply on landfill gates for
waste trucks of the private sector before the end of 2017. Sorted waste
and recyclable items can cost up to four times less than mixed wastes.
The hospitality sector is one of the major contributors of the food
waste and may be divided into for-profit and not-for-profit
establishments. The not-for-profit subsection would typically consist of
establishments such as staff canteen/ company guesthouses, cafeterias
at schools and hospitals, etc. In UAE, due to tourism in general and in
specific due to the nature of businesses and work rotation, new
projects, etc. hospitality industry is always been in the focus and is
one of the most intensive food consumers. This study conducted by
students focuses on not-for-profit establishments and two such
establishments were surveyed to collect the information related to food
waste to quantify the wastage. In this paper, the names of the
establishment have not been mentioned for confidentiality reasons. Each
establishment is identified by an alphanumeric code E5 and E6. E5 is a
low occupancy (30-50 guests) and luxury type whereas E6 is a high
occupancy (1000-1500 guests) and economy type. Both the establishments
use the buffet style of service for all the three meals in a day. The
operation of this establishment is outsourced to a catering company
which works on not-for-profit basis The survey methodology included
interviewing the managerial staff and collection of information related
to the quantities of food prepared, consumed and wasted for all the
three meals served on daily basis viz., breakfast, lunch and dinner over
a period of 2 months. The interviews conducted with the representatives
of the establishments and the catering company covered the strategies
being used on estimating the daily preparation quantities per meal and
the waste minimization techniques followed. The questions also covered
knowledge and awareness of the staff on minimizing the food waste,
related local regulations, food waste disposal methods and any campaigns
and signage that encourage guests to be conscious of food waste. Food
served is classified into critical and non-critical food. Critical food
is the cooked food and displayed on buffet table at or above 53oC and
the non-critical food stored below or at room temperature. The waste
generated in the food preparation stage is considered as ‘unavoidable’
whereas the waste generated in the serving stage that includes left out
edible quantities in the serving dishes and on plates is considered as
‘avoidable’ waste. The waste quantities obtained from both the
establishments represented cooked food waste (i.e. un-consumed food left
in the buffet serving dishes and leftovers in the guest plates). Also
the number of guests served per day was collected in order to calculate
the per capita food waste generation rates. The quantity of the food
prepared and the quantity of avoidable food waste produced (waste from
serving dishes and plate waste) per meal was physically measured during
the study period. The quantity of unavoidable food waste generated
during the food preparation stage was not quantified.
Food is a basic need for the survival and production of food requires
utilization of copious amounts, hence depletion of natural resources.
Considering the socio, moral, environmental and economic impacts of the
food wastage, minimizing food waste is one of the global challenges for
sustainability. Food is wasted at various stages of its life cycle from
field to mouth due to various reasons. Food waste happening at the end
of the food chain is avoidable. Specific to the intentional food waste,
many regulations and policies are being enacted across the globe
including UAE that are mainly focused on the food wastage at the
retailer end. However, at the consumer end avoidable food waste
reduction can be achieved mostly through personal habitual changes. It
is the moral responsibility of every food consumer while satisfying the
dietary requirements to conscientiously live a sustainable consumption
lifestyle. From the case study, results indicate that the food waste at
consumer level (avoidable) in the surveyed establishments is in the
range 8-10% whichis in line with the global average. Still there is
scope for further reduction. Though there is a good awareness among the
staff to minimize the food waste and various techniques are in place
however the support from the consumers is essential to achieve the
common goal of ‘zero food waste’. This can be achieved by a blend of
regulations and campaigns – implementing more stringent regulations
including compliance, monitoring and infrastructure and campaigns at
consumer level to bring in awareness and promote self-discipline. Know more
