More than 1/3, or 1.3 billion tons, of the entire food produce around the world is lost or wasted. As a society based on consumerism, we’d prefer to throw something imperfect away and replace it, than use or repair it. More and more people are “consuming” the planet, and to improve our environmental impact, we need to pay more attention to the lifecycle of the products we buy. Thanks to Amazon’s virtual personal assistant, Alexa, users can easily contribute a little more to shaping a better world.

The digital assistant has now been around for a few years, and with its varied skill set, Alexa has succeeded in making its users lives more comfortable. Moreover, to broaden her prowess, the organization struggling to protect earth and all of its life-sustaining systems, NRDC, together with Ad Council, worked hard to give Alexa a new, eco-friendly skill.

Alexa’s “Save The Food” skill has been specially developed to help people improve their environmental behavior by giving them valuable advice on what they can do to avoid wasting food and, therefore, contribute to crafting a healthier and more sustainable world.

In the U.S. only, more than 40% of food remains uneaten which means that, indirectly, the resources used for its production, like energy, transport, water, and money, are completely lost. The waste food issue has arisen either because food is cheaper, or plainly because people have become pickier and more selective in terms of aesthetics when choosing fruits or vegetables.

Written by SapientRazorfish, the Save The Food project promotes some of the best food-saving tips, and lets users know how to properly store food and revive it if it has gone bad, because Alexa is all for reducing this kind of waste. It can tell users whether the food is still good, what exactly you can do to store it longer, and even if it is past its prime.

Here are some of the tips users can learn from the virtual assistant: “To keep asparagus fresh longer, store it in the fridge in a vase with water, like flowers. To tell if eggs are bad, see if they float in water.” Or, our favorite one shows how to refresh wilted vegetables: Just put them in ice water for a few minutes!

SapientRazorfish engaged in promoting the virtual assistant with a strong ecological focus via a commercial and a digital campaign. Additionally, those who want to learn more about how to save food with Alexa’s help can access the SaveTheFood.com website, and enable the skill on their Amazon Alexa.

Credits:

Project: Save The Food Alexa Skill

Partners: Amazon, NRDC, Ad Council

Agency: SapientRazorfish

CREATIVE TEAM:
Anthony Yell
Brian Brown (Gamma Ray)
Peter Wagoner (Gamma Ray)
Phillip Golup
Jessae Brown (Gamma Ray)
Josh Stein (Gamma Ray)
Alicia Marshall
Jessica Sutton
Darcey Mullis
Julie Hoffman
Chelsea Chong
Angela Hovis
Monica Alameda

ACCOUNT TEAM:
Dave Serrano
Gricel Orellana

STRATEGY TEAM:
Marjorie Figueroa

XT / DEV TEAM:
Graydon Pleasants
Sonny Tu
Mark Hurley