App lets hungry users order unsold restaurant meals for GBP 3

Diners can save restaurant meals from the landfill through innovative app.

Studies show that roughly half of all our food goes to waste. We’ve written about a number of innovations which aim to help alleviate this problem. This US-based app allows supermarkets to offer online discounts on food that is nearing its sell by date, and this Spanish project enables communities to share food with their neighbors via a community fridge. Too Good To Go is an app that allows users to order food from local restaurants that would otherwise have been thrown away at a heavily discounted rate.

The app is designed to curb food waste. Diners choose from a selection of restaurants, pay through the app and journey to pick up their meal. Restaurants normally offer designated pick-up times for food, usually at closing or after peak eating times. The meals cost between GBP 2 and 3.8 and customers are not able to choose an exact meal. Instead, they are given anything that will be available when they show up to choose. The service provides participating restaurants with recyclable takeaway food containers and includes an option to donate meals to people in need. So far, the app is only available in certain UK cities: Brighton; Birmingham; Manchester and Leeds, with London joining the roster later on this month.

We have already seen an on-demand leftover food collection app. How else can tech solutions make it easier for people to donate unwanted food?