REdesign Bread Waste

Why do people throw away 20,000,000 slices of bread daily in the UK, despite its resulting 584,000 tons of CO2 emissions? The main scenario for bread waste is in households, with the root cause being the low value of individual slices, leading people to disregard them.

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After engaging with locals, I discovered that much of the discarded bread is not due to spoilage, as well as these breads maintain considerable nutritional value even past their prime. By reviewing related literature, I discovered an opportunity: leftover bread, rich in carbohydrates, fiber, and protein, can serve as substrates for cultivating biomaterials like mushrooms, that is, mycelium.

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This poses an interesting speculation: what if we could assign greater value to surplus bread by using it to grow mushroom and mycelium, thus changing how people dispose of bread? By establishing a local, digital network based on APP called “BreadMyco,” residents could donate their leftover bread to participating community gardens. These gardens would then use the bread to cultivate mushrooms and mycelium. In return, residents would receive mushrooms, adding value to surplus bread. Additionally, Mycelium companies could also procure materials through BreadMyco.

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This design linking local residents, community gardens, and mycelium material companies into a hyperlocal network focused on reducing bread waste.