Integrating sustainability parameters for carbon footprint of food in eco-design - BC-984

Project type: Research
Desired discipline(s): Food science, Life Sciences, Environmental sciences, Natural Sciences, Hospitality and tourism, Social Sciences & Humanities
Company: BetterTable
Project Length: 4 to 6 months
Preferred start date: As soon as possible.
Language requirement: English
Location(s): BC, Canada
No. of positions: 1
Desired education level: Master'sPhDPostdoctoral fellow
Open to applicants registered at an institution outside of Canada: No

About the company: 

BetterTable is a Vancouver-based benefit company dedicated to helping commercial kitchens reduce food waste by 50% and achieve Net Zero emissions. One table at a time.

Describe the project.: 

BetterTable™ is launching a mobile app for commercial kitchens that measures and helps reduce their carbon footprint from food.

The project focuses on integrating a carbon footprint algorithm into the app, using data from food purchases and waste types to calculate the environmental impacts of food. It also includes sustainable ingredients such as local sourcing (% local food). The work is to find ways to quantify the carbon footprint (and possibly water footprint) based on a set of input data collected and stored in Firebase (app currently developed with FlutterFlow.io).

The main challenge is that gathering detailed data for carbon footprint calculations takes too long for busy kitchens. Restaurants and hotels often lack the time and resources to track this information.

Our app solves this by using simple but key inputs, including types of food purchased and types of food waste generated, to feed the carbon footprint algorithm. This provides kitchens with fast, reliable data on greenhouse gas emissions.

We have a suggested algorithm that we would like to challenge and improve.

This project meets the urgent need for climate action in hospitality while addressing operational realities. It empowers hotels and restaurants to take responsibility for their environmental impact with a practical, user-friendly eco-design tool.

Required expertise/skills: 

- Carbon footprint of food / life cycle assessments
- Food waste and sustainable food sourcing
- Eco-design
- Knowledge of GHG Protocol (Scope 1, 2, 3)
- Emission factor analysis for the carbon footprint of food
- Impact assessment modeling using a LCA approach (life cycle assessment)
- Engineering (how to include the algorithm in FlutterFlow.io)
- Data visualization
- External API integration (nice to have to get food costs data)
- Testing & Quality Assurance