This article relates to Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production, one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Goal icon by the United Nations. Emberoot is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the UN.
Most waste happens because nobody can see it in time: food that expires on a shelf, stock nobody ordered, a phone with no record of what is inside it. That is where technology helps SDG 12, the Global Goal on responsible consumption and production. Apps, cameras, open databases and digital product records make waste visible and let people act on it. This article looks at named examples of technology for SDG 12 and the limits each one has.
Why visibility is the first problem
UNEP’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 estimated 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted in 2022, and noted that only a few countries had data good enough to track progress to 2030. E-waste is similar: the Global E-waste Monitor 2024 found only 22.3% of e-waste in 2022 was documented as properly collected and recycled. Much of the rest is simply not recorded. Software is useful here because it turns guesses into records.
Measuring food waste in kitchens: Winnow
Winnow makes systems for commercial kitchens that weigh, timestamp and photograph each item thrown away, and use AI to recognise the food. Kitchens use the data to change production plans. The company says its tools are in more than 3,500 locations in over 90 countries and that clients typically cut food waste by half; these are the company’s own figures, not independent audits. The idea behind it is simpler than the hardware: when chefs see a weekly report of what goes in the bin and what it cost, they change what they cook.
Matching surplus with buyers: Too Good To Go
Too Good To Go is an app that lets cafés, bakeries and shops sell unsold food at a discount near closing time. The company reports more than 500 million meals saved, 150 million registered users and around 200,000 active business partners in 20 countries, according to its own website. The model works best for businesses with predictable daily surplus. It does not fix over-production on its own, and businesses still need to measure and cut waste at source.
Open product data: Open Food Facts
Open Food Facts is a nonprofit, volunteer-run database of food products, published under the Open Database Licence. It describes itself as holding over 4 million products from 150 countries, added by more than 100,000 contributors. Apps and researchers use it to show ingredients, nutrition and packaging information, which helps with target 12.8 on giving people the information to choose sustainably. Its limit is data quality: entries depend on volunteers and can be incomplete or out of date.
Digital product passports in the EU
The European Union’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation entered into force on 18 July 2024. It introduces a Digital Product Passport, which the European Commission describes as a digital identity card for products, components and materials, holding sustainability, circularity and compliance information. Rules are being set product group by product group, so the details and dates differ. For businesses that sell into Europe, this means product data (materials, repairability, origin) will need to live in structured systems, not PDFs.
Compliance portals: India’s EPR system
India’s extended producer responsibility rules for plastic packaging run through a central online portal managed by the Central Pollution Control Board, where producers, importers and brand owners register and file returns. A portal like this is plain software, but it is what makes a recycling obligation trackable at national scale.
The limits of technology for SDG 12
- Devices use resources too. A sensor or tablet bought to cut waste becomes e-waste itself if it is replaced every two years.
- Self-reported impact figures from vendors are not the same as independent evaluation.
- Recycling apps do not reduce consumption. Most of the benefit comes from buying and making less.
- Data systems are only useful if someone acts on the reports each week.
- Start with a weekly waste report people read
- Prefer open formats for product data
- Check vendor claims against your own data
- Keep devices in use for as long as they work
- Buying hardware before agreeing who acts on it
- Treating a discount app as a waste strategy
- Locking product data in spreadsheets nobody updates
- Counting recycling as the whole answer
If you need a stock, waste or product-data system built around how your team works, our web app and SaaS team builds with a written scope and weekly demos, and you own the code at handover. For the targets and data, see our SDG 12 page and the Global Goals hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is a digital product passport?
Under the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, in force since July 2024, a Digital Product Passport is a digital record for a product, its components and materials. It holds information on sustainability, circularity and compliance, so buyers, repairers, recyclers and authorities can check it. Requirements are being set product group by product group, so timing varies.
Do food waste apps reduce waste?
They help businesses sell surplus that would otherwise be thrown away, so less edible food goes in the bin. But they work after the surplus exists. The bigger savings usually come from measuring waste and changing ordering, production and portion sizes, so less surplus is created in the first place.
Can AI help with sustainable consumption?
Yes, in specific tasks. Image recognition can identify food thrown away in a kitchen, and forecasting can match production to demand. These depend on good data and staff who act on the results. AI systems also use energy and hardware, so they make sense where the waste avoided is clearly larger than the cost of running them.