According to UN reports (and several others), 1.4 billion tons of food go to waste each year. Also, 8-10% of global carbon emissions are linked to unconsumed produce. About 17% of global food production may go wasted, according to the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2021, with 61% of this waste coming from households, 26% from food service and 13% from retail. Food waste is a burden to waste management systems, increases food insecurity, and is a major contributor to the global problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. On a personal note that resonates with the inventors and creators, too many college students go hungry while free food from several events and meetings on campus go in the trash. Such an abomination. Well… the folks with HungreeApp decided to do something about it.
HungreeApp ("Hungree") is a platform that serves as a non-commercial marketplace designed to stop food waste. Ultimately, it is designed as the first dynamic, well organized, item distribution application made for the public, where the focus of its initial release is to capture food items that would otherwise be wasted, and instead offering people in need access to these food items. These items may be excess or left-over ready-to-eat meals or may require preparation and/or cooking (e.g., groceries). Its clever and unique design allows any user at any time to use HungreeApp in one of two modes — (1) choose to list any edible and non-harmful items that a user wishes to give away and would otherwise be wasted (“the provider” mode) — or — (2) choose to review item listings within a user’s selected radius at any time and request an item collection session (“the hungree” mode). Any user may choose (and switch) their mode from the provider or the hungree.
In order to protect the provider from unsolicited interactions or encounters, the pick-up location specified by the provider is NOT shared with the hungree until the provider accepts an item collection request. Additionally, the number of available servings specified by the provider limits the number of item collection requests that will be received by the provider. Once the number of servings of any item listing are exhausted, the item listing automatically disappears from the dynamic platform, thus leaving only the hungree individuals, whose requests have been accepted, with the knowledge of the pick-up location.
Additionally, the provider may choose not to list an item for general public viewing but instead list an item to only be available to a network of individuals selected by the provider. These networks (“villages" and “communities” and the like), are generated by the HungreeApp platform as public villages, but premium users may create/set-up a private village. For example, a college/university cafeteria, (for several reasons), may choose to list their excess food to their specific campus’ “village” thereby causing the listing to only be accessed by students belonging to the “village” created for their campus. Similarly, a user may choose to list an item to their residential complex’s “village” only to be accessed by other residents belonging to the “village” created for their residential complex. These features are added to address location access and security concerns.
Download the app and start saving Earth and our fellow villagers.
