An app is helping fight food waste by connecting people to restaurants and grocery stores with surplus food and meals.
Too Good To Go targets the environmental, social and economic issues surrounding food waste.
It allows consumers to purchase extra food or items that are ready to expire at extremely discounted prices.
Senior PR Manager Sarah Soteroff says the app’s founders want to ensure edible food doesn’t go to waste.
“If you look across the world, 40% of all edible food is wasted, but in Canada, that number is 58%. So we’re really, really a huge egregious contributor of food waste. Food waste accounts for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions where, by comparison, flight travel only accounts for one per cent.”
Too Good To Go, which was founded in Denmark in 2016, operates in 16 countries in Europe as well as the U.S. and Canada.
The app came to Canada in July 2021 and is currently running in nine provinces including Ontario.
It expanded to the Belleville and Kingston areas, where about 60 businesses currently participate, last August.
Eliminating food waste is not only good for the environment but our bank accounts.
“We have in the 2 1/2 years that we have been operable in Canada, helped consumers save more than $45 million on food that they would otherwise pay full price for. So that’s real money that’s going back into your pocket.”
Soteroff adds people may not realize that food waste takes a long time to break down.
For example, she says a head of wasted lettuce takes 25 years to decompose in a landfill.
Tim Hortons restaurants across Canada are a part of Too Good To Go as are Metro stores in Ontario.
But Soteroff says food businesses of all sizes are encouraged to join Too Good to Go.
“Super easy, you just go to toogoodtogo.ca. You can put your info in if you do have food to sell and someone will reach out to you there, onboard you, almost immediately. Everything works with what works for the business so if you only have one bag of surplus of week, you can just put one bag on. You can have multiple times of pick-up. You can have multiple categories of food.”
Tim Hortons restaurants across Canada are a part of Too Good To Go as are Metro stores in Ontario.
Consumers who want to take advantage of the deals just have to download the free app, enter their location and then they can what is available in their area.
You can filter measures like dietary restrictions, pick-up windows, types of groceries and more.
All monetary transactions take place through the app.
The consumer will receive a code to show at the business when they arrive to pick up their food.
Soteroff says they’re also encouraging people to think differently about their food waste.
“Whether you’re going to go grocery shopping, maybe shop your fridge first or shop your pantry. Make a list of the things you actually need so you’re not overbuying. And then when you dine out, take that home in a doggy bag or, you know, see if there’s any left at the end of the day from your local bakery or sushi shop. They usually offer pretty good discounts as well.”
More information on the app, as well as tips on how to reduce food waste, can be found on the Too Good To Go website and Instagram page (Too Good To Go Canada).
