Measure What Matters Prototype

• Pain point: Food is wasted for all kinds of reasons, and everyone loses (money, food security, greenhouse gas emissions…).

• Stuck mindset: We don’t care enough about wasted food to measure it and understand the magnitude of the problem.

• Goal: Collectively commit to measuring what matters and understanding the magnitude of the problem so that we can make better decisions.

• Creative question: How might we utilize existing measurement frameworks and platforms for measuring wasted food so that we can share this information with each other, collectively share efforts and responsibilities, and make more impactful decisions in the sector-wide reduction of wasted food?

Original feedback loop

Our research on Vancouver's food system revealed a troubling trend - a lack of care for measuring wasted food, resulting in a lack of transparency throughout the entire system and a failure to recognize the true scale of food waste. The Measure What Matters prototype aims to address this issue by encouraging businesses to take responsibility for their unsold food by collectively setting targets to reduce food waste. However, we acknowledge that the root of this problem lies in society's guilt surrounding food waste and the public's negative response to businesses reporting waste amounts. This leads to a cycle of fear, making it difficult for businesses to take action and be transparent. We hope that by breaking this cycle, we can foster a more transparent and sustainable food system.

Exercising new tasks through familiarity while surfacing new challenges

In the first experiment of the Measure What Matters prototype, we aimed to address the lack of transparency in Vancouver's food system by testing how businesses could measure their food waste with resources already available at their locations. To achieve this, the businesses assigned a staff member as the "Measurer" for a week, responsible for measuring and reporting the collected data. However, we found that staff shortage was one of the main issues in the food system. Business owners were hesitant to demand more of their overworked staff, and we believed we must try encouraging the staff to voluntarily participate in the experiments.

Measurement documentation form

To encourage staff participation, we delved deeper into their daily activities and what motivates them to work. We assumed that changing values is key to changing actions and interviewed staff members to find a promising place to intervene and raise values. However, we encountered other challenges, such as staff disinterest in exploring new ways of operating in an already demanding environment and rapid turnovers in positions often filled by students. These challenges led us to focus on addressing aspects of staff engagement before measuring food waste, and aligning the prototype with the Nourishing Staff Engagement project.

Revised feedback loop

Changing our approach and methodology

To turn our ideas into action, we had to shift our focus from relying on voluntary participation to testing other methods of accountability. We combined the insights from the Co-creating Collaborative Responsibility prototype and designed a new experiment called "For The Love of Food Challenge", which was framed as a City-led effort to inform municipal-wide policy. By reframing our ideas, we tested if positioning the challenge as a commitment by the store rather than a voluntary effort would encourage greater participation. The challenge ran for two weeks and involved different departments of a grocery store recording, measuring, and reporting their food handling practices in an effort to become more aware of waste and find ways to decrease it.

The challenge served as a first baseline for understanding the food flow within the business. Prior to the challenge, our partner business only measured the amount of food going to donation. However, through this challenge, they started measuring the amount of food going to compost as well, which was an eye-opening addition to their operations. As this was the first time they measured waste, the challenge served as a starting point that will now provide a baseline for future measurements.

Reflective journal for business manager cover and table of content

Reflective journal for business manager, reflective questions on the challenge presentation for the staf

Success + celebration

By the end, we were thrilled to see the success of our challenge, not only in terms of improving business operations but also in the positive impact it had on our staff. By framing the challenge as a policy requested by the City and having a City member introduce it, our staff members felt heard and empowered, recognizing that their jobs matter and their opinions and ideas are valued. This was a surprising and gratifying outcome that demonstrates the potential for collaborative policy-making and the importance of including staff members in decision-making processes.

This success story is not only a lesson for governments to work with a diverse set of stakeholders, but it also serves as an inspiration for businesses to recognize the power of including and empowering staff members. In fact, our business partner was so encouraged by this realization that they will be creating a new Sustainable Manager position, and offering it to one of our staff members who took the lead in the challenge. This demonstrates the potential for prototypes to change mindsets and cultures, and highlights the benefits of giving space for communities to be built. We learned that resilience is key when tackling complex problems, and that a collaborative approach that involves a variety of stakeholders is necessary for creating positive change.

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