Bonapp.eco mobile app users from Cluj and Bucharest rescue 7.5 tons of food
Romanian startup Bonapp.eco, which has developed the responsible shopping mobile app, publishes the first consumer behavior data collected in Romania about the rising generation of consumers who are conscious about food waste.
Romanian startup Bonapp.eco, which has developed the responsible shopping mobile app, publishes the first consumer behavior data collected in Romania about the rising generation of consumers who are conscious about food waste.
In ten months, Bonapp.eco users rescued 7.5 tons of food products on sale near their expiration date. If discarded at a landfill, these products would have decomposed and generated 15 tons of CO2, about the same amount of emissions as those of a diesel-powered car going two times around the Equator.
Bonapp.eco connects users to almost 500 partner stores in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca. 95% of the offerings available through the app consist of food product packages at a 50% discount. "Champion" users rescued more than 400 packages in the past 10 months.
Bonapp.eco released the data to mark the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (September 29), highlighting the rapid increase in responsible shopping among the urban population, who is turning to buying food, sweets, and drinks that are either perishable or nearing the expiry date, and which otherwise would have simply been discarded. The two main factors driving the purchase decision for this population segment are avoiding food waste (online, "rescuing” is the preferred term) as well as the discounts offered by the merchants enrolled in the app.
Food waste is not only a material loss for the merchant or producer, but also a loss of opportunity (because it translates into a missed exchange of value), as well as an environmental risk, since food discarded into landfills decomposes and generates large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
How the app works
Bonapp.eco lists the offerings of partner stores for the users, who can choose and then order their products directly from the application, paying online and picking their order directly from the store. Orders are fulfilled on a "first come, first served" basis, while stocks last.
Over the past 10 months since the app's rollout, Bonapp.eco users have rescued about 7.5 tons of food, representing a reduction in carbon emissions of more than 15 tons of CO2, the equivalent of what a diesel-powered car would emit going around the Earth two times through the Equator.
Bonapp.eco currently has nearly 500 partner merchants in the cities of Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest, and the company is in talks with several chain stores and HoReCa establishments to further expand its client base. Stores design their offerings as they like, usually in the form of packages containing one or more products, and sometimes as a "surprise box" for those customers that like to try new things. The vast majority of available packages, about 95% of total, go for a discount of 50%, with the rest giving discounts between 70% and 90%.
