Considering we live in a day and age when climate change and climate action is becoming a daily conversation, it is certainly worth it to stop and think how we as individuals are contributing so this issue. One of them anyways in which we are part of the problem is through our most common daily habit, eating. We need to eat to sustain ourselves, but what happens to the food that never makes it to our tables and sits on the endless rows in supermarkets with expiry stamps on them?
Well, to put it in simple terms, the food that is not purchased and is past its safe date for consumption is loaded into trucks and sent to the landfill. Once there, it is thrown into huge piles with other kinds of garbage, suffocated with no access to oxygen and it starts to slowly decompose. The result is methane gas, a gas so detrimental to the environment; a greenhouse gas that is slowly eating the ozone layer and exposing us to higher than normal temperatures.
Raising awareness about the dangers of climate change is the first step that we can all take whether we’re educating ourselves or educating our family and friends, or our community. Climate change is not an issue that can be solved by a single individual, rather it is an issue that requires an all hands-on-deck approach by every single individual collectively.
To reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfills, certain grocery stores have come up with amazing ideas and approaches that benefit the community and also the environment such as partnering with food banks. One of the ways in which technology has been extremely helpful has taken the shape of an app called Flashfood. This is an app built in Toronto with a clear vision for a better world for future generations, all the while giving the community access to affordable food.
The retailers that have partnered with the flash food app offer food at 50% of the retail price and in addition reduce their carbon footprint by eliminating the need for that food to be transported to the landfill if not sold.
The selection of items offered through the app varies by store.
How does it work?
Purchasing food through the Flashfood app is very simple:
1. Make sure the Location is turned on on your device.
2. Open the Flashood app and sign in into your account or register if you do not already have an account. If you prefer, you can use my referral link to register.
3. The stores that use the app will pop on the map on your device.
4. Click on the store that you would be interested to purchase items from and browse through their list.
5. Select the items you want to purchase, use the — and + signs to add or remove items to the desired quantity and click Add to Cart.
6. Click on the Shopping Cart tab in the bottom and this will take you to the Checkout Page.
7. Confirm the items on your Shopping Cart and click Checkout.
8. You have just purchased the items and now they are ready for pickup. You can check the items awaiting your pick-up in the middle tab in the bottom labeled Pickups. Make sure to pick up the items before the date listed next to them as they will not be available past this date.
9. Head over to the store and locate the Flashfood zone. Pick up the items from the fridge and/or shelves and you can checkout at the Customer Service Desk.
On the top left corner of the app, there is a hamburger (three tacked horizontal lines) button and when you click on it you can check a number of things such as purchases, receipts, payments, loyalty cards that you can add, rewards, help, settings and the logout button.
The app is also really cool because they will track your savings as well as your carbon footprint. If you click on the Savings button on the bottom right hand corner you can see how much money you have saved so far as well as the miles of carbon dioxide since you prevented this food from being transported to the landfill.
You can check the locations of participating stores here .
Enjoy the food knowing full well that you just did something great for yourself and the environment.
Originally published at https://vocal.media.
