It’s a sad fact that one third of all food produced worldwide is lost or wasted. That’s approximately 1.3 billion tons of food. 

To help put this in perspective: Even if just one fourth of that lost or wasted food could be saved, it would be enough to feed 870 million starving people in the world. 

And, according to climate change expert Chad Frischmann, reducing food waste is also one of the most important things we can do to combat climate change. Considering that we need a stable climate to even continue to produce enough for everyone to eat (let alone waste), more and more consumers and companies understand that cutting back on food waste is essential.

Danish company Too Good To Go has made it their mission to inspire and move people to take action against food waste. To achieve this goal in households, in collaboration with companies, education, as well as politics, they’ve created an app of the same name. Continue reading to find out how it works and how it supports sustainability and the reduction of food waste in your area.

“Best Before” Doesn’t (Necessarily) Mean “Bad After”

The use-by date on food is meant to stop suppliers from selling food gone bad, and protect consumers from eating bad food. The problem is that “Best Before” doesn’t automatically mean “Bad After”. In fact, most food is good for a lot longer beyond the date stamp on the packaging than people realise. 

Use-by dates are responsible for around 10% of food waste in Europe. In many European countries, cafes, restaurants, and stores have to throw out food that is past its use-by date - even if it’s actually still fine. An exception is France, where it’s illegal to throw away unsold food.

Too Good To Go encourages consumers to use their senses once a use-by date has passed, rather than just chucking the food outright. And their app makes it easy for people to find and buy food that’s about to pass its use-by date at a reduced price.

Find Magic Bags in Your Area

Too Good To Go’s app (available here at Google Play and the Apple App Store) helps consumers save surplus food from their favorite eateries and stores, provided those venues have signed up for the app. 

Over 4.600 bakeries, hotels, restaurants, and grocery stores in Switzerland have already signed up at the time of writing this post. Instead of throwing away perfectly good food at the end of the day, these places offer whatever they have left in so-called “Magic Bags”. Through the app, consumers can locate Magic Bags at locations near them, reserve and pick them up at an appointed time. 

It’s both sustainable and fun, because it’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get. 

But you do know that you’re helping to reduce food waste. 

For more info straight from Too Good To Go, check out our interview with Alina Swirski, Country Manager, Too Good To Go Switzerland.