Foodprint is a new app that was launched to tackle food waste in the hospitality sector by connecting customers to discounted surplus food from local eateries. The service and app launched in Raglan in early May with seven local businesses signed up.
(Listen to the full interview below:)
“The purpose is all about keeping good edible food out of the landfill. Food waste is a massive contributor to the climate crisis, and I'm sure the residents of Raglan will be fully aware of that.
“Foods that are still fit for human consumption only belong in one place - and that's in humans,” says founder Michael Garvey.
Foodprint works by offering customers generously discounted surplus food from eateries to ‘rescue’ before it gets thrown in the bin. Once you have downloaded the app you can check out what the local eateries have offered that day and make a purchase.
“The cool thing is that because it's just what is surplus or hadn't sold on that day, it does change on a daily basis and sometimes you've got to be in really quick before that food sells out,” says Michal.
In New Zealand, approximately 50,000 tonnes of food is wasted every year in the retail and hospitality sectors with over 60% of the food still being edible. When food waste decomposes in landfills, it emits the greenhouse gas methane, making food waste a huge contributor to climate change.
Last year Michal was invited to take part in the country’s first Climate Response Accelerator programme based in Wellington. Aimed at accelerating startups that are geared towards tackling climate issues in different sectors like energy, construction and transport, eight teams took part in the ‘Dragon’s Den’ style programme where they received mentoring and support from an organisation called Creative HQ.
Over the last couple of weeks, Michal has seen a huge demand from all around the country and she hopes that Foodprint will play a part in New Zealand halving the amount of food wasted by the year 2030, which is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“The thing about footprint is because we're a digital platform, we are actually tracking that data and can play a part in helping businesses to be more sustainable and reduce their waste. But in the same way, also acknowledging that as humans we make mistakes, things don't always go to plan and that having us as sort of a back up for those businesses is extremely valuable.”
Michal launched Foodprint in 2019 and has since partnered with 400 eateries around the country and over 45,000 consumers. So far the app has saved over 50 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent gas through food rescue.
“The first one was here in Auckland, a place called Grape Deli. I went to meet with her and it was like me and a little PowerPoint presentation. I didn't even have an app to show her yet.
“She was just absolutely blown away by the concept and jumped on and was quickly followed by Little Bird Kitchen.”
Having launched in the Waikato recently, Michal is excited to develop more relationships with local businesses in her quest to save edible food from ending up in landfills.
There are a number of local businesses that have signed up to Foodprint: The Shack, Wyld, SWOP, Aroha Sushi, The Herbal Dispensary, The Hut and Raglan SuperValue - To join the Foodprint community, download the Foodprint App through the links below:
https://apps.apple.com/nz/app/id1462596522
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foodprint
Check out the website at this link: www.foodprint.app