TOO GOOD TO BE THROWN AWAY:

the idea of the magic box of leftovers

A conversation with Eugenio Sapora
by Martina Liverani

What can a bakery, a restaurant, a bar or a grocery shop do in order not to throw away leftover food, excess, or food that is close to its expiry date? Put it in a magic box and sell it at a low price.

An idea as simple as it is good:
too good to be thrown away.

Too Good To Go was created in Copenhagen in 2015 out of the idea of some students, who, realising the amount of food wasted at events, decided to act to fight against food waste.
Today it is present in 17 countries around the world, involves 56 million users and 114,000 partners, and has saved 130 million meals, therefore avoiding the emission of 325,000 tonnes of CO₂ into the environment.

And it is all a matter of connections, because, from a small click in an anti-waste app, a movement has been created that involves individuals, but also large companies and institutions.

We spoke with Eugenio Sapora, Country Manager for Too Good To Go.

"One of the main goals of our app is to create a virtuous network of actors, from commercial operators to citizens, who are personally committed to solving a problem that is becoming more and more important: food waste. Dialogue, exchange, but above all, collaboration and connection between people, are therefore indispensable for carrying out tangible actions that can address the problem: more than a third of the food produced is wasted, which is a huge amount if you think about it, and just one person acting alone cannot really be effective - we need a cross-sectional unity of intent to have a direct, quantifiable impact."

One of the most significant projects is without a doubt the Pact against Food Waste, a virtuous alliance between companies, consumer associations and voluntary sector organisations, with the aim of counteracting food waste by bringing the topic to the centre of the public and private debate through concrete actions to raise awareness.

But it is reductive to speak only about an app or about how, in practice, we can actively reduce waste. What we really need to shake up is people's consciences, whether individual or collective.

"Our mission is to inspire and provide everyone, primarily operators and consumers, with the tools to fight against food waste, but our activities don't boil down only to this. Aware that food waste is an enormous problem, and that this problem is not limited to the distribution chain, Too Good To Go also works with four other fundamental areas: people, schools, companies and institutions. So, as well as the app, our campaigns aim to educate and provide consumers and sector operators with the means and the knowledge to have a positive impact on food waste at various levels of society. In this context, technology, and more specifically the app, is only one of our many methods to transmit our messages to as many people as possible, making them into true waste warriors, inside and outside the home."

Every connection creates another. What is the path you are following in Italy?

"In Italy, Too Good To Go has over 5.8 million users, who have saved 7.5 million meals from being wasted, avoiding the emission of 18,750 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. Although our audience is very wide-ranging, the most active segment on the app is people between around 20 and 40 years old. As of today, we are present in over 600 cities, and our objective is to reach the entire Italian territory even more extensively. In terms of our operations to inform and raise awareness, we would like to continue to develop the project for the Pact against Food Waste, as well as informing and educating more and more consumers on the topic of waste and the best practices for fighting it. We also do this through collaborations with schools, universities, the public sector and voluntary sector organisations."

Good ideas, like good food, will always find a way to promote themselves. What really counts is being connected with others, with a shared set of values made up of small everyday actions that, when multiplied by millions of people, create sweeping change.

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