The market for anti-waste applications in France

The market for anti-food-waste applications includes apps that enable consumers to buy baskets of unsold products from retailers, restaurateurs and supermarkets, as well as apps that enable better management of food products at home (expiry alerts for products in the fridge, menu suggestions based on leftovers, etc.).

These applications operate by charging a commission on the price of each basket sold.

According to a study by the Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (Ademe), food waste in France represents 29 kg per year per inhabitant, or an estimated commercial value of 16 billion euros per year. It represents the equivalent of 15.3 million tonnes of CO2.

A further 20% of waste is due to consumers' failure to understand the use-by dates indicated on packaged foods.

Regulations are encouraging the market to move towards a system of selling unsold produce, notably the Garot law of February 2016, which obliges supermarkets over 400m2 to offer a donation agreement to associations to take back their unsold food that can still be consumed, and the Coluche scheme dating back to 1981, which grants a 60% tax exemption to distributors and manufacturers practicing food donation. Retailers are therefore well advised to turn to applications that sell unsold food baskets, enabling them to limit their financial losses while reducing waste.

This market is booming worldwide and in France, due to a strong demand for more responsible consumption and a desire to limit waste. Too Good To Go, a Danish start-up, is today one of the market leaders, with over 9 million Europeans, including 3.5 million French, having downloaded the application, and over 7,000 partner retailers in France. Numerous other players are also entering this market, including Phénix, Optimiam and Karma.