When food waste becomes food opportunity: the case of TGTG

Happy Sunday everybody!

As we have mentioned in some previous articles, between July and August 2019, I attended the International Summer School about “Environment, Energy and Global Changes” at the prestigious Tsinghua University, in Beijing.

It was my first time in China: the whole experience was awesome! On the one hand, getting to know such an ancient culture was a privilege: field trips and extra activities were definitely entertaining. Indeed, I brought back home new knowledge, new friendships and wonderful memories.

My class during a day trip to the Great Wall (I still have goosebumps when I think I have actually visited one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World!)

On the other hand, attending the lectures of brilliant professionals offered me a unique opportunity to learn about the environmental challenges China has to cope with, concerning especially soil pollution and food waste.

Now, before digging deeper into the topic, it is important to recap the distinction between the well-known food waste and the probably less-known food loss.

As explained by the Food and Agriculture Organization:

“Food loss is the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by food suppliers in the chain, excluding retailers, food service providers and consumers.

Empirically, it refers to any food that is discarded, incinerated or otherwise disposed of along the food supply chain from harvest/slaughter/catch up to, but excluding, the retail level, and does not re-enter in any other productive utilization, such as feed or seed”.

FAO also points out that, instead:

“Food waste refers to the decrease in the quantity or quality of food resulting from decisions and actions by retailers, food service providers and consumers. Food is wasted in many ways:

·         Fresh produce that deviates from what is considered optimal, for example in terms of shape, size and color, is often removed from the supply chain during sorting operations.

·         Foods that are close to, at or beyond the “best-before” date are often discarded by retailers and consumers.

·         Large quantities of wholesome edible food are often unused or left over and discarded from household kitchens and eating establishments.”

You can check these and other data at http://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/en/ 

China Daily clarifies that “Chinese consumers wasted roughly 17 to 18 million tons of food served in big cities in 2015, a quantity sufficient to feed 30 to 50 million individuals annually” (here’s the article http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201803/27/WS5ab9a0c4a3105cdcf65147d8.html)

Indeed, living on campus definitely helped me to enjoy and understand the experience to the fullest: it was while going to the canteen for lunch and dinner when I realized that yes, food waste is indeed a problem there. I remember looking at how students were throwing away their food in these big black bins, before giving back plates and cutlery to be washed. And no one seemed to care like if that was how things were supposed to be. Doesn't it sound controversial? The same place that was urging me to find solutions to food waste, awarding me a full scholarship to learn about that and other problems, was also the same place where the food was thrown away without any kind of sensitivity...

The worst part of all, it’s the “normality” that gesture becomes: even for me, after only 2 weeks there, it felt like it was okay to throw away food. Me, a 23 year old youngster who, since being a child, has always been the type of person that had to finish her meal, even if I was feeling sick: I couldn’t handle to see food being wasted. It made me so sad to think that while I was throwing that food away, on the other side of the world, boys and girls my age were starving and who knows what they would have done to get that privilege I was discarding. 

Food waste apart for a moment, I have to admit that noodles and dumplings were very tasty (Trust me, we didn't throw away any during that lunch!)

So, as usual, I started to ask questions: I needed to understand the thoughts of other people, especially my Chinese friends. Talking to them and commenting on the quantities of food served, I found out that a huge amount of food is usually prepared because the guest has to be filled up: if you leave the plate empty, it means the food was not sufficient and the hosts should have cooked more, ergo you are not satisfied. Instead, if you leave some food in the plate, it means that you are full and you totally appreciated the service. 

When I first heard this, I was so surprised: coming from a family, where leaving food on the plate is a sign of disrespect because it actually means you didn’t like the meal, you can imagine, those words came as a shock. It was a shock but it was also fascinating: it made me reflect, even more than usual, how much relevant culture is! If we want to solve the problem of food waste, will legislative policies be enough in a country where you feel “obliged” to leave food on your plate to show your gratitude? 
I think it’s a good example to understand that today and tomorrow’s leaders need an interdisciplinary approach: it is not enough to be an environmentalist, you need to be an anthropologist, a scientist, a policymaker if you really want to grasp the problem and tackle it from its roots.

So, once back home, I tried to look for solutions. When I first heard about this app, I immediately shared the word with friends and family because it looked such a brilliant idea! TGTG, acronym for Too Good To Go, is a social impact company developed in 2013 in Denmark: it has now spread to 15 countries. Here’s their website, if you want to check it out https://toogoodtogo.org/en

But, how does it work?

Through their app, stores can sell their leftovers for a very minimum price (usually between 3 and 5 euros), to users who buy the so called "magic box" (which is supposed to contain 15 euros worth of products) and they go to pick it up at the store. The advantage is double: the store earns some money rather than throwing away what it had left and consumers pay a very cheap price for good quality and good quantity, while helping the planet. 

It is very crucial to understand that when we talk about food going to waste, what goes to waste is more: not only the food itself but also the water, land and labour used to produce it. Also, we need to consider the pollution caused for transporting that food from the production to the consumption place, whether in the same or in a different country.

Based on the assumption that one third of all food produced is wasted, landfill is overflowing and the environmental impact is real, with food waste accounting for 8-10% of all CO2 gases in the world, TGTG is partnering with households, businesses, governments and schools in the waste revolution!
It has a B Corporated Certification: so far, they have saved 35.8 millions meals, which translates into almost 90 thousands tonnes of CO2 saved!

Martina Forbicini

Personally, I have been using it a couple of times in Rome and so far I am satisfied!And you? Did you already joined TGTG waste revolution? Or do you use other apps/ways to avoid food waste?

Let us know in the comments!