Panasonic uses fridge camera to reduce waste
25th July 2025
JAPAN: Panasonic is involved in an experiment to reduce household food waste through the use of refrigerator AI cameras.
In collaboration with Yokohama City, Panasonic will seek to verify the effectiveness of using refrigerator cameras equipped with AI technology to reduce household food waste.
In addition to selling refrigerators equipped with AI cameras, Panasonic also sells refrigerator AI cameras that can be retrofitted to some Panasonic refrigerators.
When the refrigerator door is opened, the AI camera takes pictures of the inside of the refrigerator, and the AI automatically recognises the type of vegetable from the image of the vegetable compartment. By linking the record of the date of storage registered in a smartphone app, the system lists the foods in order of the foods that should be eaten soon, preventing them from being consumed, expiring or forgotten.
The amount of food waste generated by households in Yokohama City is estimated at around 85,000 tons per year, or about 23kg per resident per year.
In this demonstration experiment, Panasonic will install AI cameras on refrigerators in 30 homes in Yokohama City to investigate improvements in food management and changes in awareness and behaviour regarding food waste.
