The ‘heroes’ of food waste in Dublin city centre 

Dubliners have had a lot to deal with over the last couple of years – the economy, the looming threat of the housing crisis, and climate change, to which one of the most significant contributors is food waste. 

In Dublin alone, 150,000 tonnes of food are wasted each year, out of the 750,000 that Ireland wastes.   

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) typically leads National Stop Food Waste Day on March 1st. The EPA then runs a week-long campaign with the same idea until March 7th. 

The campaign is part of Ireland’s commitment to halving food waste by 2030 under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

“I know it happens a lot, especially in restaurants,” says Barbora Kristkova, a TUD student based in Aungier Street.  

She added, “The government should make it easier for restaurants and supermarkets to donate leftover food, and more influential people should be brought in to raise awareness and support for community programs and food-sharing apps.” 

Another campaign goal is to focus on ways everyone in cities can help tackle food waste, with a ‘reward’ accompanying it. 

One of the easiest and relatively cheap ways for people to help reduce food waste, is to use Too Good to Go. This app has grown in popularity over the years, especially among students. 

Launched in Ireland in 2021, the app has saved thousands of tonnes of food from restaurants, butchers, supermarkets, and local cafes. 

It has also become a growing trend in Liberties. People struggle to pay for their groceries sometimes, and this way, they save food that would have been thrown away and money, too.  

“The app is great when you don’t have enough time in the day, and it’s very cheap for us students to use, as well,” says Carles Martinez, an Erasmus student living in the Liberties.  

When asked about its difference in food waste reduction, he adds, “It is a bigger problem that can’t be tackled with apps alone, though it does help.” 

The app introduces an element of surprise. Customers pay €4 for a mystery bag valued at €15, sometimes even more. The bag’s contents vary depending on the restaurant or café selected and what customers have leftover that day. 

The app gives you a specific time to collect your bag from the store. If you miss the collection time, you will not be refunded for it, as it is a leftover bag that cannot be received another time.  

Jamie Crummie, a Too Good to Go co-founder, has spoken about the app in an interview with TechRound: “By engaging with our app and rescuing surplus food, our users are learning about the issue of food waste. Anecdotal feedback from our users has shown that once we have raised awareness of food waste, this filters through to changing behaviour towards food at home as well.”  

Over the years, Fresh, Spar shops, local coffee shops, and hotels have joined Too Good to Go’s surprise bag scheme. 

Many recently opened coffee shops and restaurants thrive in The Liberties, particularly around student accommodation and life in Dublin. Too Good to Go has been filled with local surprise bags to save the waste these establishments contribute the most to. 

One of the most significant contributors to food waste is hotels, which produce enormous amounts of food waste after buffet breakfasts and dinners. 

While the Leonardo Hotel in the Liberties offer breakfast at a reduced price with leftover menu and pastry items, Hyatt Centric, near St Patrick’s Cathedral, offers dinner meals with leftover pastries or desserts of the day.  

The barista at Tram Café spoke about the day’s delight when giving out this unique surprise bag, saying, “There’s been a big number of people coming for bags, and we had many leftovers, and now we don’t have any. It helps in the long run.” 

Tram Café at Clonmel Street, which offers surprise bags at all its Dublin locations, surprised us with a bag filled with Asian chicken salad, carrot cake, toastie, and sausage roll.  

 After every buy and collection of a surprise bag, the app tells you how much CO2e you have avoided and how much money you have saved.  

Flower & Bean, a small local business in Liberties on Cork Street, is a prime example of the fight against food waste.  

The business has three owners who wanted to create a welcoming, family-friendly environment where people could enjoy good coffee and treats. 

Their café and bakery are adamant about always serving fresh food, cakes, and pastries; because of that, some waste is expected every day.  

As Greg, one of the owners, says, “We always try to reuse as much as we can, so if we have leftover croissants, we make ‘no waste’ bread pudding, and using Too Good to Go helps so much as well. I think it’s a brilliant idea.”  

“There are days when we give away 5 or 6 bags of leftovers, some days we have none and the app lets us customise that output,” he says, when asked about the benefits of Too Good to Go in his business.  

He adds, “It helps reduce our waste, but it also brings in new customers who have never visited us. Sometimes, they’ll come back for a specific item, like a cake, that they have gotten in their surprise bag, and that helps the business too.” 

When asked about any negative experience with the app, he only expressed his disappointment with reviews, especially those written by people who don’t understand its point.  

“There will be a review that says we hadn’t given them a rich selection, and sometimes I think that people misunderstand what the app is, if I have leftovers, I am selling leftovers for cheaper than they should be,” he said, expressing the only negative experience.  

Never overbuying food and ensuring you are not contributing are great ways to prevent food from being thrown out. 

One of the biggest concerns, along with waste from establishments, is household waste. Stocking up on foods and getting way more than you realistically need could be wasting entire meals that another person could have needed.  

This is mentioned in EPA’s food waste hierarchy, which places it at the very first step of reducing food waste, followed by redistributing surplus food.  

While not everyone is a climate change advocate and doesn’t have this much time to fight for what truly matters, food-saving apps can be a brilliant way to prevent food from being thrown out, even on a tight schedule.