App fighting food waste by selling restaurant leftovers destined for the trash launches in Austin
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AUSTIN (KXAN) – More than a million pounds of food are thrown in the trash in Austin every day, according to a 2018 report by the City of Austin.
But a new app launched in town on Wednesday is trying to change that – by connecting locals to fresh scraps of food that would otherwise be thrown away.
Too Good To Go allows people to purchase a surprise grocery bag from participating companies for a third of the usual price.
Too Good To Go, an app that combats food waste, launched in Austin (Image: KXAN / Harley Tamplin)
The Food Waste app has already registered 60 local restaurants, bakeries, and cafes – many of which offer inexpensive food on the first day in Austin, typically between $ 4 and $ 6.
“We throw away a third of the food we produce on the planet, which is crazy,” says Lucie Brasch, co-founder of Too Good To Go. “The great opportunity here is that we can all be part of the solution.”
Food waste is a global problem, accounting for 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions, and the larger problem of waste has been identified as an area for improvement in Austin.
The city is on the way to zero waste. In 2011, Austin City Council committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill by 90% by 2040.
“It’s really about building this global movement to combat food waste that everyone living in Austin can now participate in,” added Brasch.
La Condesa, a Mexican restaurant in downtown Austin, is one of 60 companies that signed up at the start of the launch day.
General Manager Jennifer Le said joining Too Good To Go is a “no problem” as the restaurant is already committed to sustainability by using compostable take-away products and meat from Texas farms.
Le added that La Condesa has events that have a mid-week buffet and plans to put the leftover groceries in the surprise boxes for Friday lunchtime – to make extra money and help the environment instead of just eating it throw away.
Too Good To Go, an app that combats food waste, was launched in Austin (Image: KXAN / Frank Martinez)
“What we’re doing is packing the food and allowing guests all over Austin to buy it at a discounted price and enjoy a little slice of La Condesa,” she said. “To see Austin bring it here is amazing.”
The app was launched in Europe before it came to the US. Austin is the tenth American city to have Too Good To Go available.
It also aims to help combat food insecurity in the area through its partnership with the Central Texas Food Bank.
How it works
Too Good To Go, an app that combats food waste, was launched in Austin (Image: KXAN / Too Good To Go)
Users can log into the app and see which companies are offering surprise boxes at a discounted price.
For companies, it is important to divide the leftover food into the surprise bags and list them in the app.
You choose both the content of the box – the app shows the value of the box – and the pick-up time.
“We connect stores that might have leftovers at the end of the day with consumers who can pay a small price in the app and pick up all the great groceries that could have been thrown away 10 minutes later,” said Brasch.
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