Student invented a way to help the blind and put a dent in food waste

Pakstaite first came up with the idea for the Bump Mark while working on a project for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, a British charity that helps the visually impaired. For six months, she worked on ideas to improve public transportation for the blind and spent much of her time talking with them about daily challenges they faced.

The Bump Mark, Pakstaite’s award-winning creation, is a tactile expiration label that accurately detects when food has gone bad. It was created as her final year project at Brunel University in London.

The design is very simple: Pakstaite explained that the small triangular label is built like “a sandwich,” combining a plastic textured surface on the bottom with solid-set gelatin and a thin film on top. Depending on its concentration, gelatin decays at the same rate as the food in the package. When it fully decays, signaling the inedibility of the food, it turns from a solid into a liquid. Any food shopper can run his or her finger over the label and, if able to feel bumps, will know instantly that the food is no longer good to eat.

“One day I thought: ‘How on earth do they know when their food is going to expire because they can’t see the expiry labels?’” she said.

So Pakstaite set about designing a product that would help the blind detect expiration dates and allow them to buy healthier foods. But she soon realized that “the rest of the sighted population is kind of blind to the real expiry of our food [as well]. It’s not just an issue that affects blind people. We are throwing away food that is perfectly fine and creating a lot of food waste.”

The Bump Mark, although initially designed for the visually impaired community, could make such an impact and help guide sighted consumers who throw out still edible food every day.

Pakstaite recently signed a contract with a UK supermarket and hopes that her labels will be rolled out soon. She won the UK James Dyson Award as a result.

More info: http://www.designbysol.co.uk/

Adapted from: http://bit.ly/2Ftw9tb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvifPDWgQo0&list=PLVCtQ6P7QEWgF1a-1bqpBk...