Combating waste: a mobile app for food donation

Resumo

About 815 million people in the world suffer from chronic undernourishment. Paradoxically, 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted each year. When food surpluses occur, the best destination — which ensures the highest value use of edible food resources — is to redistribute these for human consumption. In this vein, we propose the Combating Waste app to fight food waste by establishing a donation network. To this end, volunteers cooperate as food donors or transporters, and charitable organizations join as food receivers and also transporters. The application searches for compatible donations and demands, generating rides that connect them. Transporters can choose a ride of their preference and take the donated food to its destination. We aim at connecting persons with food surplus to places in need of food.