Food rescue: restaurants, shops and apps reduce food waste by applying technology
- Thousands of tonnes of unsold and uneaten food end up in Hong Kong’s landfills every day, adding to greenhouse gases. It’s a worldwide problem
- Now restaurants, shops and NGOs are linking with apps to sell food and meals at a discount to their users and funnel unused food to the needy
Loaves of bread from a popular chain bakery outlet will not be fresh enough for customers by tomorrow, so tonight they will be collected by a volunteer and taken to a charity for distribution to the hungry.
Containers of soup won’t be ordered by restaurant customers for a set lunch today, so tonight they will go to a discount food rescue app for a flash sale. The cupcakes and luxury desserts left over in an elite bakery will be marked down by half to get them moving to food rescue customers rather than be consigned to the garbage bin.
From a small base, food rescue is accelerating in Hong Kong, encouraged by the government, appreciated by the needy and enthusiastically adopted by the price-conscious.
A new anti-food-waste app, Phenix, was launched in Hong Kong in February, in partnership with the members-only designer fashion flash sale firm OnTheList.
Already popular in France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, Phenix in Hong Kong has so far signed up about 20 providers, including restaurants such as Oolaa and Cali-Mex, shops such as The Cakery, the Rise bakeries and most recently, the City’super supermarket chain.
Phenix app users can specify the types of food they want to buy from shops and supermarkets, such as fruit and vegetables or dried goods, and nominate whether or not they are vegetarian, and whether they require halal or organic food.
