Saving the world, one meal at a time

Did you know that 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year in the world? The amount is almost incomprehensible. In Finland, 400 to 500 million kilos of food are thrown away each year. In Finnish households, each resident wastes more than 20 kilos of food each year. When summing up all food waste in Finnish households, the price tag of annual food waste is 500 million euro.

Looking at the figures above, it has been a pleasure to see that there has been more discussion on food waste recently. In Helsinki alone, a food waste restaurant Loop and We Food, a grocery store selling food waste, have been established in recent years. In addition, several applications and web stores help consumers to rescue food waste. We, the ResQ Club, are one of these operators.

The idea behind ResQ is quite simple. The restaurants, cafés, and grocery stores in the service add their surplus food to the service, such as any meals left from lunch time. In the application, a customer sees available offers in their immediate area, where they can buy a meal after finding a suitable offer. Customers can collect their meals by the time reported in the application at any suitable time for themselves, such as when leaving from work or school.

I think the best term to describe ResQ is win-win-win. ResQ providers do not have to throw away prepared food but instead, they can earn additional income. In addition, ResQ partners gain more visibility among new customers, while strengthening their responsible brand image. For app users, the service offers an easy, responsible and affordable way to try out new restaurants and cafés. According to our calculations, the production of the meals saved so far is equivalent to CO2 emissions of 39 million kilometres by car. It is comforting to think that these emissions were not created for nothing.

Since its launch in 2016, ResQ Club has grown and developed at a tremendous pace, and the Helsinki-based grass root startup has evolved into a multi-country business. You can now save food in dozens of cities, there are more than half a million registered users, and we expect the limit of 2 million saved meals to be exceeded around the time this text is published. The service continues to grow, and it is interesting to see where our path will lead in the future.

I also want to remind you that this week is the national Food Waste Week. Therefore, I encourage everyone to think more closely about their eating habits this week, and when you get hungry, also check out the selection of ResQ!

Meri-Helene Mikkola, Customer Experience Manager, ResQ Club

This text is a part of a blog serie, which discuss deeper on the topic of monthly climate tip found from the design-calendar.