De la Cruz Ogilvy creates innovative digital tool to prevent food waste Reusables turns “use by” date into “use for” the environment

Did you know that approximately one-third of the food purchased at the supermarket is discarded when it reaches its “use by” date? This situation presents a significant problem of food waste, contributing to environmental issues.

This premise, combined with the little knowledge about alternative uses of many products, led the team at de la Cruz Ogilvy to create Reusables for their client SuperMax, a cutting-edge technology to turn "use by" dates into "use for" the environment.

"We created a social filter for SuperMax products that have a second use after they reach their “use by” date, giving them a second life and changing the concept from 'Use by' to 'Use for'. We used the power of A.R. and computer vision to help us identify the labels through Image recognition technology to create a new label that shows their alternative use for the planet. Using a convolutional neural network, we identify the products and train the labels through a Machine Learning process to 'hack' the products and demonstrate their alternative uses," said Rafael Reina, leader of the Reusables project. "We spent a year developing it to make it easily accessible on all Meta Spark platforms and open source on www.reusables.ai, where it is free to use for everyone," he added.

The Reusables program not only aims to give a second life to food products but also showcases what can be done with the packaging. This is the first time that an Instagram filter has been used to convey a message and educate about a problem that is not only affecting Puerto Rico but the whole world.

"Technology was our best ally in the process of identifying a valuable resource. We wanted to propose an innovative solution by leveraging technological innovation. What could be better than identifying something as universal and accessible as a mobile phone? We bet on it and we can see the results in Reusables," said Carlos Thompson, President of de la Cruz Ogilvy.

"The topic of recycling and reusing materials or products as an alternative to reducing environmental pollution is one that we are very interested in. We are aware that many people don’t have information of the possibilities of reuse for some materials due to lack of access to high-impact programs. That's why we are very excited about this new educational tool that is part of our commitment to innovation in serving our customers," said Jorge Hernández, President of SuperMax.

This marks the beginning of a movement that proposes to involve more brands in this creative solution to address a global issue.