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The Rise of Food-Sharing Apps
The Rise of Food-Sharing Apps
We’re all guilty of wasting food, whether it’s having to clear out your fridge before you go on holiday or simply not paying enough attention to use-by dates (or too much attention to best-before dates!). But many of us simply don’t understand the gravity of the situation.
It’s estimated that around a third of all food produced is wasted. Yes, that’s right – a third. To put that another way, we use farmland the size of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan combined to grow food that is never eaten. What makes this an even more difficult pill to swallow is that world hunger is still one of the most prominent challenges facing the developing world today.
How does this waste occur?
The grocery supply chain currently creates 1.9 million tonnes of food waste, of which 1.1 million tonnes (56 per cent) is avoidable, while UK households throw around £12.5 billion of food away every year. According to the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the total amount of food wasted in the UK every year stands at around 15 million tonnes.
However, it doesn’t have to be this way. There are many companies who are completely redefining the way we deal with food waste, whether it’s providing shops with a platform to sell surplus food or simply getting communities in touch with each other. Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent ones.
OLIO
Founded by Tessa Cook and Saasha Celestial-One, OLIO helps put consumers in touch with both local shops and their neighbours, creating one cohesive food-sharing community. There are over half a million OLIOers around the country and over 700,000 items of food have already been shared
Karma
Stockholm-based company Karma raised over $12 million in Series A funding in order to break into the food-sharing business. With this funding, they created an app-based marketplace which allows restaurants and supermarkets to sell their unwanted produce to Karma users who get to purchase the food at half price.
In London alone, Karma works with more than 400 restaurants to distribute their surplus food, ensuring that it doesn’t go to waste. To top it all off, Karma even uses biodegradable boxes made of sugar cane to transport their surplus produce.
Food Cloud
Based in the UK and Ireland, Food Cloud puts businesses in touch with local charities and community groups, allowing the most vulnerable among us to take advantage of food before it goes to waste. The app is extremely easy to use – a restaurant or supermarket can upload food to the app, and then local charities will get a notification that food is available. Simple.
Winnow
Winnow tries to help deal with food waste by stopping it occurring in the first place. Primarily used by commercial kitchens, Winnow tracks the size and weight of thrown-away food and provides the user with regular reports regarding the volume and environmental impact of the waste. Customers who use their food-tracking technology save, on average, $35,000 a year.
Here at Brown Recycling, we’re all for doing our best to keep food waste to a minimum. We provide a range of waste management services throughout Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe and the surrounding areas, including skip hire, recycling and scrap metal recycling. If you would like to learn more about the services that we offer and the mission we’re on, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Got any burning questions?
You can ask us a question online using our contact form. Simply provide your name, email (purely for confirmation purposes) and the details of your enquiry, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
What our clients say about us
“We are hugely grateful to Brown Recycling for their help on DIY SOS: The Big Build in Stoke. Dave and the team went above and beyond to clear the site and then bring in other suppliers who also supported this great cause. Thanks to the generosity of countless suppliers and volunteers, Stoke now has a community centre that will support its residents for many years to come.”
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Excellent service on a recent Hazardous waste removal from one of our sites. Paddy and Stacey wasted no time in arranging for our waste to be removed in surprisingly quick turnaround. 10/10...
1 week ago -
Hired a skip to clear a huge pile of garden waste. Arrived on time, picked up bang on time, dead easy to book and pay. Courteous, helpful drivers. Job done! just as it should be, without drama. Highly...
1 month ago -
Very professional service and the customer service team are very helpful and knowledgeable. We have been working with browns and using their services for a number of years and cannot fault it. Very co...
1 month ago -
Terry was very efficient. We will use brown for skips again...
2 months ago -
Had problems with getting the skip into our drive but Browns persisted and 3 trucks later the 3rd driver got the job done. Incredible service from a very professional and competent company. Special me...
2 months ago -
Really efficient service, competitive price and they dropped off skip exactly where we asked them to. Easy to book a skip over the weekend using their online booking system. Very helpful when we nee...
3 months ago -
I ordered a skip at short notice and it arrived as requested. Having finished with it early Terry came and collected it very promptly which freed up the driveway. A Good service and reasonably priced....
3 months ago -
Brilliant service - I booked for the wrong date, but Browns were really helpful and changed the booking at the last minute....
3 months ago -
We chose Brown Recycling because out of the firms we rang the lady on the end of the phone knew exactly what we needed and was very helpful. ( Yes you can place a skip in a council paying car park) A...
4 months ago -
A big thanks to Phil, always helpful and polite when collecting cardboard, nothing too much trouble ....
5 months ago -
Christie has been great in providing us with a total review of our waste services on site. If you are looking at reviewing your waste service then I would highly recommend that you reach out to her as...
6 months ago -
really fast and a easy process. Thank you Christie...
6 months ago -
Christie has been most helpful and informative whilst booking a new service for plastic and general waste recycling. Would recommend :)...
6 months ago -
Christie was very helpful, she managed the whole process very efficiently and met our expectations. We now have the service and commercial offering we need for our business waste. We would recommend...
9 months ago -
Quick and really reliable service.... was a pleasure dealing with Christie!!!...
9 months ago -
Requested amendment to current waste collection. Very helpful and was able to answer all queries and adapt to our requirements. Definitely recommend...
10 months ago -
We had a visit today from Mark and Andy dropping off our new waste bin. I would just like to acknowledge their outstanding customer service. They disposed of the built up waste that we had gathered si...
11 months ago -
Full marks to Andy and Mark. Went above and beyond today and would highly recommend them to anybody looking to recycle large quantities of waste. Professional, efficient and very approachable...
11 months ago -
First time using Browns, they were clear, efficient and got the job done. Will continue to use their services....
1 year ago -
New to sorting a bin service for our new business. Christie and Brown Recyling has been great with helping us select the right type of bin required as well as not overspending for the sake of it. He...
1 year ago -
Super easy to set up a long term skip hire, Christie made things nice and clear and the prices were good too! everything was ready to go really quick, highly recommend Browns...
1 year ago