A new app that directs surplus foods from restaurants and cafes to consumers for cut prices has launched in Australia, hoping to make progress on reducing food waste.

Denmark-headquartered Too Good To Go has signed deals with more than 80 local businesses, including Muffin Break and Wabi Sushi, that will offer consumers surprise bags of food that would have otherwise gone to waste.

The mobile phone app is free to use and will offer consumers cut prices, typically half off retail.

Jack Hetherington from the Centre for Global Food and Resources at the University of Adelaide said the platform is a step in the right direction towards Australia achieving its goal of halving food waste by 2030.

Currently Australia wastes 7.6 million tonnes of food a year, according to Food Bank figures.

“The Too Good to Go business model is one tool within the tool box that we need in terms of getting things that are still good to eat into the hands of people who need it,” Hetherington said.

Too Good To Go CEO Mette Lykke said the app is a win-win for consumers and retailers who would prefer not to throw food out.

“We cannot afford to waste food – it’s too valuable for society, the economy and the planet,” Lykke said.

“Reducing food waste is one of the most effective actions we can take to help tackle climate change and limit temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100.”

Too Good to Go launched in Denmark in 2016 and has since registered more than 100 million users in more than 18 countries.

It has helped to save more than 350 million meals from going to waste globally to date.

The app will only be available across Victoria initially, but there are hopes for a national expansion later down the line.

Reducing food waste

The launch comes amid a growing focus on reducing waste across Australia, with other social impact organisations such as OzHarvest and Foodbank signing their own partnerships with supermarkets and other retailers to ensure goods are diverted from landfill.

Hetherington said that Australia’s food waste problem has a number of causes, and so will also require multiple solutions that target everything from the food on retail shelves to wholesale supply chains and household kitchens.

His own research focuses on the wasting of food in dairy supply chains and how whey proteins can be repurposed into other products, such as being distilled into vodka or other alcoholic spirits.

“There’s a lot of food waste generated in Australia and its right across the supply chain,” he said.

Households are a massive part of solving Australia’s food waste problem, with data showing that the average family throws out hundreds of kilos of food a year, equal to about $3800 a household.

Simple strategies like meal planning, utilising the freezer and preserving food are great ways to reduce that number, experts have said.

It’s particularly pertinent amid the cost-of-living crisis with extra steps like reserving a shelf from your fridge for leftovers and designating a day when you might want to eat any leftovers in your pantry or for each helping to cut down on food costs.