Real-Time Mobile Applications Help Cut Down on Food Waste

by Ken Silverstein | Feb 2, 2017

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Right after United States Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency joined together in 2013 to form the U.S. Food Waste Challenge, a pair of companies decided to advance the cause. Waste 360 reports that Food Rescue and Copia are using real-time mobile technologies to cut down on food waste.

Food Rescue, for example, specializes in large fresh food recovery and on feeding those in need. Waste 360 says that it is volunteer-driven and that it works with restaurants, grocers, bankers, and caterers to deliver good to soup kitchens, food pantries and hunger relief organizations.

With 10 locations around the country, it has delivered more than 16.6 million meals and saved 25 million pounds of food from going into landfills, according to a press release. That has an estimated value of $42.3 million.

Waste 360 writes that it engages key partners to list and track food donations and to enable enable front line groups to list their specific needs.

“We’re excited to have a new name that better reflects our national focus and continued expansion initiative. Through the recovery and direct transfer of fresh food, we have seen our national impact grow and intensify,” says Kevin Mullins, co-founder and executive director of Food Rescue, in the release. “The launch of the next generation of the app is even more important as we move toward our expansion goal of 25 sites by the end of 2017. We are actively seeking individuals and organizations to partner with us and bring (our services) to their communities. Our simple solution to ending local hunger works everywhere.”

San Francisco-based Copia also matches business with surplus foods and ensures that it gets delivered to those in need, says Waste 360, which notes that it only provides services in San Francisco. It all done through a web and mobile platform.

“We recover and deliver excess food in real-time. Our startup is at the intersection of the tech and food industry and aims to bridge the gap between those with excess edible food to those in need of it,” says Komal Ahmad, founder and CEO of Copia, in the Waste 360 piece.

The story says that Copia has recovered and redistributed more than 722,000 pounds of food that has fed more than 602,000 people through its partnerships with 650 businesses and 200 nonprofits/recipient organizations.