國家地理:沒有垃圾的世界可能存在嗎(13)

The progress has stalled lately, but no one ever thought common sense alone would end food waste. Artificial intelligence may be required. From a remodeled Victorian furniture factory in the Shoreditch section of London, Marc Zornes, CEO of Winnow, is pitching a high-tech solution that his start-up already has placed into 1,300 restaurant kitchens: smart garbage cans.

最近的進(jìn)展有所停滯，但也沒人指望單靠常識終結(jié)食品浪費。我們可能需要人工智能的幫助。在倫敦肖迪奇區(qū)一家老家具廠改造的辦公空間里，Winnow公司的執(zhí)行總裁馬克·佐恩斯在推銷一種高科技解決方案--這家初創(chuàng)公司已經(jīng)為1300家餐館的廚房裝上了智能垃圾箱。

Zornes demonstrated one in his conference room, using a plastic chicken leg. Each time a cook or waiter dumps a pot or platter of something into a Winnow can, a scale measures the added weight and a camera snaps a picture. The AI software identifies the new garbage -- at Ikea it has learned to distinguish three kinds of meatballs -- and displays its cost.

佐恩斯在會議室里用塑料雞腿進(jìn)行產(chǎn)品演示。每次廚師或侍者倒下鍋碗中的棄物，智能垃圾桶會稱量增加的重量并拍下照片。人工智能軟件能夠識別新增垃圾的種類--在宜家賣場它學(xué)會了區(qū)分三種不同的肉丸--并顯示它們的成本。

Zornes claimed his clients -- AccorHotels, the French multinational, is another big one -- routinely cut food waste in half by listening to their garbage cans. Breakfast buffets are notorious, he said; most leftovers are discarded. "When you start measuring the problem, you start managing it," Zornes said. You make less of what you're throwing out. I had walked through Winnow's graffiti-decorated carriage doors expecting grooviness and hype; I walked out wanting to tell my nephew, a Ritz-Carlton chef, about Winnow.

佐恩斯稱，他的客戶通過聽取垃圾桶的反饋，將日常浪費量降低了一半。自助早餐是浪費重災(zāi)區(qū)，大部分剩菜都被倒掉。“當(dāng)你對一個問題有了量化的認(rèn)識，就能開始對它加以掌控”，佐恩斯說。扔掉的食物自然會減少。我踏進(jìn)Winnow公司那涂鴉裝飾的對開大門時，預(yù)期的是天花亂墜的宣傳，走出時卻一心想把它的產(chǎn)品介紹給我在麗思卡爾頓當(dāng)大廚的侄子。

A few days later I had a similar experience in Amsterdam at InStock, a restaurant that makes ambitious cuisine from surplus food. In a spare but cozily lit room, I sat down under a wooden sign that tallied the "rescued food" -- 780,054 kilograms, or more than 850 tons. One of the founders, Freke van Nimwegen, was at the bar checking the books. She joined me and told me her story as my prix fixe menu ran its courses.

幾天后，我在阿姆斯特丹的InStock餐廳收獲了類似的經(jīng)歷。這家餐館使用過剩食材制作大膽的美味。在一間裝飾簡潔但燈光和暖的房間里，我在一塊木牌下就坐，牌子上統(tǒng)計了餐廳挽救的食物總量--780054公斤，也就是超過850英噸。創(chuàng)始人之一弗里克·范尼姆維根在吧臺對賬，此時也坐過來，在我一道道吃完當(dāng)晚菜品的過程中講述了自己的故事。