App focusing on minimising food waste launches in Wellington

Michal Garvey is passionate about food and sustainability. Photo / Supplied

A Wellington woman is trying to slow the rates at which food is sent to landfills in an attempt to minimise the emissions caused by food waste.

Almost 50,000 tonnes of food is wasted by the hospitality and retail sectors in New Zealand each year, over 60 per cent of which is still edible - and Michal Garvey wants to change that.

She's the founder of Foodprint, an app which partners eateries to customers so they can sell their leftovers, and stop them going in the bin.

Garvey says it was always her dream to start a business – but she knew it had to be something she was passionate about and something that would make the world better.

"I love food, I love sustainability, and food waste is a massive contributor to climate change so I just brought all those things together."

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that about a third of all the food in the world goes to waste and producing, transporting, and letting all of it releases between 8 and 10 per cent of global greenhouse gases. If waste were a country, it would have the third biggest carbon footprint after the US and China.

Cafes partnered with Foodprint list the food items they have left over at the end of the day at a discounted rate, starting at 30 per cent. Users get a push notification saying what is available and where, then a countdown until the café closes begins.

After paying in-app, people head along and pick up their favourite treats from their favourite places – all at a discount.

Garvey says it's a win-win situation.

"People get access to discounted food which people are pretty keen on, but also eateries are able to maintain value on that food that would otherwise end up in the bin!"

The app has had great success in Auckland where almost 400 eateries have signed up to provide food for 40,000 registered customers.

So far, 34 eateries in Wellington have signed up.