Too Good To Go App Helps Food Waste

You save money and planet at the same time 

Have you ever heard of the New York City influencer Anna Sacks, known as thetrashwalker? She walks in New York City and goes through the garbage piles a few times a week finding unopened candy bars, chocolates from well-known named pharmacy’s trash bags, a day beyond 'best by date' pastries and salads, piles of brand new clothes and designer bags, sunglasses and more. She posted these videos on social media and became well known as thetrashwalker.

Environmental activists like her really give us a wake-up call and make us want to think more about how we need to fix our wasteful lifestyle. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, US nearly 40 percent of our food supply is thrown away each year. It turns out this country discards more food than any other country in the world.

Today, I would like to write about this app called Too Good To Go which connects customers to restaurants and stores that have unsold food surplus. This app is already popular in Europe and operations started in North America last fall.

This is how it works: You can find nearby restaurants, cafes, and stores in the app, the places offer Surprise Bags for a very reasonable price (about 1/3 of the original price) which contain the food surplus at the end of the day. You reserve your bag and pick up at your scheduled time.

So my mom downloaded the app and we tried to find the stores near where we live. We only found four stores near where we live so I am hoping more local stores and restaurants will participate. I do have a good feeling about this app.  

People want to watch thetrashwalker Anna Sacks’ social media and youtube posts because they want to contribute to making an action about the waste problem. By downloading the app and using it, people are actually helping to reduce waste. I get my favorite croissants for a reasonable price and the store gets to reduce its surplus. It is a win-win situation isn’t it?