Despite the staggering 2010 statistic released by the NRDC that food waste in the US amounts to 30% – 40% of the food supply, the food waste in America’s supply chain remains virtually invisible. 

 Both the unfinished sandwich on the plate and the too- bruised peach end up in a landfill – even if they make it onto the shelves. For the food industry, this represents $165 billion of wasted foodstuffs – a glut of uneaten meals. 

 So what can be done? Some companies, like PareUp, are seizing this opportunity to develop creative ways to both reduce food waste, provide affordable foodstuffs, and boost marketability.

“Everyone loses when food gets thrown away,” says the 

. “PareUp is developing a mobile marketplace for surplus or unsold food. Retailers post their quality excess for a discount, [and] users enjoy delicious goods and keep them from the trash.” The platform was founded by Margaret Tung, Anuj Jhunjhunwala and Jason Chung as a new way to reduce the massive turnover of edible foods at select New York City businesses. Tung explains that businesses often take products off shelves before the sell by date, have a ‘fresh daily’ policy, or just can’t sell all their product in time. While some of this food is picked up by non-profits, many organisations will only take excess food in bulk above 50 pounds. 

 The problem is that many small to medium sized businesses don’t produce that much weight, and end up throwing the food away.

Everyone loses when food gets thrown away. PareUp is developing a mobile marketplace for surplus or unsold food

Here, PareUp steps in. Its café and small business partners discount their surplus products by 35% – 55%, and PareUp sends an email notification or provides a live listing of these businesses and their available products with an app. 

 It means that retailers have the opportunity to turn a profit off of what would have been a sunken cost, while consumers receive discounted, quality food – and the satisfaction of knowing that their purchase has reduced food waste.

Fresh produce is used to entice customers, so perfectly edible leftovers are thrown away

The PareUp target demographic is economic and civic-minded people with early technology adoption that want access to quality, cheap foodstuffs. In the future, PareUp wants to partner with university food providers – perhaps even having PareUp representatives on campus. College-goers represent a population ripe for the picking, because many students are looking for convenient, affordable food options – and the data from PareUp’s beta launch showed that ideal college fare, such as sandwiches or croissants, tended to sell best. 

And so far, it’s been successful. PareUp is building a loyal clientele based on its great food, low cost, and social impact platform. With a subscriber base that ran from 300 to 2,500 in a matter of weeks thanks to media attention and word of mouth, as well as a successful test launch at select New York City locations, it’s no surprise that some customers have been approaching vendors and asking for the PareUp deal by name. 

People want delicious, affordable food – and increasingly, they’re looking for sustainability

The amount of food waste produced in the US is a complicated and growing problem. Restaurants often plate up at least twice the serving size – and not only does this encourage over-eating, a report published by the CDC pointed out, but it can also result in more leftovers being thrown away. 

 On the other hand, grocers are constantly restocking their shelves with the freshest products, because customers are wary of products with dents, bruises, or a little discolouration – even though they’re still good quality and safe for consumption. And these factors are exacerbated by other troubling statistics – 17.6 million households were considered “food insecure” in 2012, while 34.9% of adult Americans were considered obese in 2011. 

 “People are beginning to realize that there is a problem,” says Wayne Wu, co-founder of food waste reduction platform GiveHalf. “It's a visibility problem. We don’t see food piling up in the streets, though it happens at every point in the food chain, so we are shielded from it.” 

While many Americans won’t see the paradox of food waste personally, the food waste reduction movement is gaining traction in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago through of efforts of organisations like 

 campaign to reduce child obesity fits into the new movement’s ethos of healthy lifestyles, community involvement, and environmental justice. And as a result of the food waste reduction movement’s heightened profile, consumer demand for access to cheap, quality food and sustainable management options has risen – and with it, a niche opportunity for brands to flaunt their new, palatable practices.

Small businesses often don’t reach the minimum surplus for charities to take, so it’s wasted

The prevalence of social media, apps and crowdsourcing has made issues like food insecurity, the rising cost of quality food, excessive food waste, and obesity visible to more people. Technology has played an important role in heightening publicity and awareness about such issues, and it’s also this technology that consumers and businesses alike turn to for clever solutions. The PareUp and GiveHalf mobile apps promise a slick way for people to make smart and ethical choices while on-the-go.

While food waste previously went largely undiscussed due to lack of visibility, it’s now become a hot topic that people want to see addressed by the brands they buy

Innovations like these cater to Americans’ growing interest in green living, sustainability, and community health. In a 2013 survey, an incredible 78% of the 2,068 respondents said they buy green products and services. And while Americans appear divided about whether or not they would pay more for these products, (43% responded that they would pay more, while 44% said they would not), the innovative business models of PareUp and GiveHalf propose a perfect compromise: reduced food waste, marketability, and affordable, quality food. 

 In short, these apps streamline people’s input and maximise their impact, making economic and responsible choices easier and tastier than ever before.

While food waste previously went largely undiscussed due to lack of visibility, it’s now become a hot topic that people want to see addressed by the brands they buy. Intensified media attention to food waste and the emergence of ideas such as PareUp and GiveHalf demonstrate the growing demand for well-rounded practices and streamlined, technological approaches to saving money and sustainable living. PareUp and GiveHalf give people greater access to products and a greater sense of input into business practices – helping to reaffirm brand loyalty. People are looking for new ways to ‘multitask’ their purchasing power; they want great food, at a low cost, through sustainable means – and they want savvy, civic businesses such as PareUp and GiveHalf to deliver them.

 is a Honolulu-based writer and linguistic anthropologist. She writes about mineral resources, globalisation, and the South Pacific.

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‘Wasted: How America Is Losing UP to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill’, Natural Resources Defense Council

‘The Estimated Amount, Value, and Calories of Postharvest Food Losses at the Retail and Consumer Levels in the United States’, United States Department of Agriculture

Office Hours at Startup School NY 2014, Youtube

‘Do Increased Portion Sizes Affect How Much We Eat?’, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

‘Adult Obesity Facts’, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Interview with Wayne Wu conducted by author

‘U.S. Consumers Increase ‘Green’ Purchases; But Are They Willing to Pay More?’, SCA

Food waste from restaurants and supermarkets in the US represents $165 billion of missed profit. Responding to this, PareUp caters to a conscious clientele by partnering with cafés and stores to promote surplus unsold foodstuffs, reducing waste and passing on discounts.

An ethical pay-as-you-feel café

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