Reinventing food waste: a conversation with Too Good To Go

The term food waste refers to the collection of food items discarded throughout the food chain, even though they are still perfectly suitable for human consumption. Without possible alternative uses, this food ends up as waste.

Avui dia aquest malbaratament alimentari constitueix un problema global, recordem algunes dades:

Today, this food wastage is a global problem. Here are some facts:

  • The loss of resources that could help feed the entire world’s population.
  • Wasted food makes up 8% of all greenhouse gases emitted.
  • If food waste were a country, it would be 3rd in terms of CO₂ emissions, 1st in water consumption and 2nd in agricultural land use.

The European Commission estimates that the world discards more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food yearly. It represents 1/3 of the world’s food production. Of this amount, 89 million tonnes correspond to the European Union, where between 30% and 50% of all healthy, edible food is eventually turned into waste (Manos Unidas, 2020).

1st PERSON EXPERIENCE: discovering Too Good to Go

Too Good to Go is presented as an initiative against food waste. Below is an interview with Helena Calvo, Impact Projects Manager of the Web platform:

Too Good to Go is a social impact company whose main mission is to fight food waste. We do this in many ways, the best known of which is an App, a free platform for users that connects them with any food establishment that has a surplus at the end of the day and wants to sell it instead of throwing it away. Food is sold at a reduced price and so we get the user to buy food and save it from ending up wasted. At the same time, the establishment manages to sell that product. In this way, we all win because, in the end, the planet does not suffer from food waste and its consequences.

How did this initiative come about?

The idea was born in Denmark at the end of 2015, from a group of young entrepreneurs who were having dinner in a restaurant and realised that, while they were enjoying their after-dinner meal, the restaurant staff were throwing away the same food, in perfect condition, that they had enjoyed during dinner, five minutes earlier. They saw that there was a problem and soon realised that it was not just a problem in that restaurant but in many food establishments. They also saw that this was not only happening in Denmark but that it was a global problem with serious consequences. So they started to develop a platform that quickly spread and was validated in different markets and different categories of establishments. In this way, the platform that Too Good To Go is today was slowly created.

Did you anticipate such growth?

The truth is that Too Good To Go has had exponential growth in a very short time, from 2016 until now. Today it is present in 17 markets, most of them in Europe, the USA, and Canada. We have more than 50 million users globally and here in Spain, with 5 million since 2018, the year we started, and more than 15 thousand establishments that put packs on sale every day. You really don’t know how it will go and that seemed very positive to us, that in each market where we reach, this is being validated. Food is something very cultural in every society (people don’t eat the same way in Norway as in Spain, just as they don’t eat the same way in the north and south of Spain or in the north and south of Catalonia). A food application for eating surplus food has to be validated in each market, a solution is not valid all over the world. I don’t know if we expected it or not, but we are very happy with how this initiative has been received and, above all, to see that more and more people are looking at it favourably and we are breaking the taboo of food waste, that more and more of us are speaking out and want to find a solution to it.

More than a third of food is wasted. Why?

This is the big question. There are micro causes, such as the fact that a lunch box is left in the back of the fridge without you realising it and you end up having to throw it away, or macro causes, such as the long food chains we have, in which each link means a threat and a new opportunity for food to end up in the bin for many different reasons (due to breaks in the cold chain, packaging or labelling problems…) and all of this only aggravates the big problem. Surely in the city where we live, there is a large part of it which is excess in access to food: we have a lot of products with a lot of quantities and a lot of varieties and surely we have the purchasing power that allows us to “if today I don’t feel like this, I’ll buy another”, a cycle that we have entered into.

We have to think about separating the price of food from the value it has, because the value of food is much more than the price it can set and give it back that value and really understand that when we throw away food we also throw away all the resources used to produce it and, therefore, we must give it as many opportunities as possible and try to foresee all this.

Which foods are most wasted?

Fruit and vegetables are foods that, for many reasons, end up wasted. The latest data indicate that 45% of the food we throw away in Spanish households is fruit and vegetables, especially lettuce, tomatoes and bananas which are probably overripe. We need to learn what to do when food is overripe. A banana, for example, can be used for something other than eating, or used in an elaborate dessert and, in the case of tomatoes, perhaps to make a stir-fry.

All this, together with other products such as bread and dairy products, are the most wasted products in households.

What role does education play in reducing food waste?

Too Good To Go does have this solution, which is the mobile app, but we also work on 4 other pillars: business, public affairs, households and education. Education is crucial because, at the end of the day, it is the new generations who will make the purchasing decisions and how to manage businesses or future companies. Therefore, having these new generations sensitised and aware is key for the future to be set in a different direction. Too Good To Go also focuses on those who are making decisions through all the channels we have, whether through the app, social networks, blogs, websites, talks or participation in any type of event that can give us a voice and a loudspeaker not only to explain our solution but also to inform about the problem in order to make people more aware and make visible such a big challenge as food waste.

What is the social media impact of your hashtag #FoodDoesNotWaste?

It is the typical phrase that reminds us of our grandparents who used to tell us, either we don’t play with food or we don’t throw it away. Using this hashtag on the networks has allowed us to create a community of people who make it visible, as well as actions and make people participate, make them feel part of the solution and share recipes, tricks or even new ideas that we hadn’t thought of.

Learn more about food waste.