The opening of the UK's first Food Waste Supermarket in September and the recent London launch of Too Good To Go, an app which sells cheap restaurant food that otherwise would have been thrown away, have put the issueof food waste on the media radar.And for good reason.'If food waste were a country, it would be the third largest emitter of green houses gases after the US and China,' Too Good To Go co-founder Chris Wilson told Business Insider.He added that 600,000 tonnes of edible food is wasted by UK restaurants each year, which he called 'incomprehensible.''It's a mammoth problem which until now the London media hadn't touched upon,' he said.Introducing Too Good To Go, the app and website of the moment which uses a geo-targeted map to show users the restaurants closest to them with leftover food available for collection at a special time, all for under 3.80.Some of the most popular spots in London include Sushilicious, which offers a box of leftover sushi for 2.80 compared to its regular price of 8, juices and smoothies from Roots Juicery for 2.75 and the popular Vietnamese baguette sandwiches from Banh Mi Bay for 3.50 instead of 7.'The restaurant anticipates how much food they'll have left, then makes it avaiable to buy through the app,' Wilson says. 'Users can select the food they want, pay through the app then are given a mobile receipt which they show at the restaurant to get their food.'The box full of pizza shown below, for example, cost 3.50 from Pixxa in Whitechapel. Hello London! You can now grab a box full of tasty pizza like this one from Pixxa in Whitechapel for 3.50 on the Too Good To Go App! ' Keep your eyes peeled for more #tgtglondon news! ___________________________________________________ #london #pizza #food #whitechapel #lunch #londonfood #foodies #restaurant #londonrestaurants #summer #sunshine #food #packaging #creative #sustainability #zerowaste #feedbelliesnotbins #tastenotwaste #tbt #thursday #greenliving #city #summerinthecity #summerinlondon #instadaily A photo posted by It's just #TooGoodToGo... (@toogoodtogo.uk) on Jul 28, 2016 at 5:13am PDTon Jul 28, 2016 at 5:13am PDT Wilson was first involved with Too Good To Go in Copenhagen, where the idea began, then decided to launch the app in the UK with friend Jamie Crummie, starting with Brighton and Leeds in June of this year. The app has since launched inManchester, Birmingham andLondon.Wilson said the duo were partly inspired by the work being done by The Real Junk Food Project, the organisation that runs'pay as you feel' cafes around the world using food from the likes of markets and food banks destined for the bin and just last week opened the UK's first Food Waste Supermarket.'They started in Leeds as well and they've done some incredible stuff,' he said.'It's really important that social entrepreneurs are getting involved in trying to bring food waste tothe forefront."Wilson and his business partner Jamie Crummie are hoping the app will 'highlight food waste and change perceptions around it.''We can counter [food waste] by changing our attitudes towards it and hopefully start to be more considerate about the way we're consuming food,' he said."If someone orders from us, we want their immediate thoughts about the experience to be, 'I can't believe this food was going to go in the bin.''With approximately 100 restaurants already on board in London, Wilson says the app is 'constantly expanding' and added that the team is in talks with getting popular chains on board; the YO! Sushi chain is already on the app.Wilsonsaid that for restaurants, getting involved is a 'win-win."'The restaurants no longer have to pay waste disposal, it puts British food to good use and they also get extra exposure and coverage in our app at no cost,' he said.While the app shows users what type of food the restaurant serves and gives them an idea of what to expect, they also aren't guaranteed anything specific.When ordering from China Express, for example, they might recieve a box of assorted Chinese food like the one below. This was destined for the bin...imagine that! Outrageous isn't it' Check the app now to see what quality restaurant food awaits ________________________________________________ #tgtg #london #chinesefood #yum #wastenot #chopsticksorfork #feedbelliesnotbins #foodie #saynotowaste #sustainability #saveourplanet A photo posted by It's just #TooGoodToGo... (@toogoodtogo.uk) on Aug 13, 2016 at 9:58am PDTon Aug 13, 2016 at 9:58am PDT 'We don't want to put an obligationon restaurants to have to listsomething,' he said.'It should be as easy aspossible.'He added that keeping it simple seems to be making users happy.'We're surrounded by choices, and with another company you can log into a website and have a million options in front of you," he said.'It's a liberating experience to know roughly what it's going to be but be in for a bit of a surprise."Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Samsung now says it's too dangerous to even turn on your Galaxy Note 7
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