Read the full story at Fast Company.
Flashfood has expanded into 1,600 stores across North America and allows SNAP recipients to buy food using electronic benefit cards.
Category: Smart phone apps
‘Grocery sharing’ app Recelery lets users resell food items to help minimize waste
Read the full story at TechCrunch.
It is typical for consumers to purchase more food items than they need and then throw them away because they either forgot about them or the food expired. It is estimated that 1.3 billion tons of food items are wasted yearly, an approximate $1 trillion loss.
Recelery, a pantry tracker app and online marketplace, aims to reduce food waste with an array of features. Users can log their recent food purchases, manage grocery lists and see “virtual pantries” from other users in their area, as well as sell unused grocery items to their neighbors. Users can also invite friends and family to share what food is in their virtual pantry.
The startup hopes its app helps consumers keep track of when food in their kitchen/pantry expires and discover what food they can buy from neighbors in between grocery trips. Plus, during high inflation, the marketplace tool will potentially give everyday consumers a way to earn money on recently purchased food that would otherwise be uneaten and in the trash.
Global science project links Android phones with satellites to improve weather forecasts
Read the full story from The Verge.
Collecting satellite data for research is a group effort thanks to this app developed for Android users. Camaliot is a campaign funded by the European Space Agency, and its first project focuses on making smartphone owners around the world part of a project that can help improve weather forecasts by using your phone’s GPS receiver.
The Camaliot app works on devices running Android version 7.0 or later that support satellite navigation. The way satellite navigation works, phones or other receivers look for signals from a network of satellites that maintain a fixed orbit. The satellites send messages with the time and their location, and once it’s received, the phones note how long each message took to arrive, then use that data to figure out where on Earth they are.
Researchers think that they can use satellite signals to get more information about the atmosphere. For example, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere can affect how a satellite signal travels through the air to something like a phone.
Food waste reduction app Flashfood raises $12.3M
Read the full story from Grocery Dive.
Flashfood has raised $12.3 million in a Series A funding round, the food waste reduction app announced on Monday. The round was led by S2G Ventures.
Flashfood, which partners with retailers to offer nearly-expired products at discounted prices, said it plans to use the funding to expand its U.S. presence.
In its funding announcement, Flashfood noted the U.S. retail sector is losing $37 billion annually in value due to food reaching its best-by date before it gets sold.
Environment Agency to develop climate change app
Read the full story at UK Authority.
The Environment Agency (EA) is moving forward with plans to develop a mobile app to encourage people to make lifestyle changes to combat climate change.
It has published a market notice for support in a private beta project to begin by early April, saying it is in support of the Government’s commitment to make the UK carbon neutral by 2050.
ZeLoop: an app using blockchain tokens to reward recycling
Read the full story at Packaging Europe.
The Readers’ Award finalist app ZeLoop is using cryptocurrency to incentivize consumers to recycle plastic bottles. Before recycling their bottles at one of 5000 crowdsourced collection points, users take a picture of the amount they are disposing of. Their picture is then verified, and they win blockchain tokens called Eco Rewards that they can exchange for goods and services.
New app tackles Mississippi River pollution
Read the full story from WQAD.
The Quad Cities joined a new Mississippi River clean-up initiative that utilizes an app to track pollution data.
Xtreme cleanup and local governments have collaborated with the Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative for a month-long program tracking data on litter along the river and the land that surrounds it. The app is called the Marine Debris Tracker app.
PFAS in cosmetics: Clearya and GSPI found PFAS in 1,000 products from 120 brands
Read the full story from Clearya.
Clearya is a browser plug-in and a mobile app for iPhone and Android phones that works automatically while consumers are shopping online. When users browse products on Amazon, Sephora, and other online stores, the cosmetics’ ingredients are automatically analyzed. As a result, the user is then instantly notified of unsafe chemicals it detects, including PFAS. The goal is to make it easy for shoppers to choose products without chemicals of concern and make informed decisions.
Nature is medicine. But what’s the right dose?
Read the full story at Outside.
A new app called NatureQuant harnesses the latest research to track and rate your time outside. Next up: determining how much you need.
Can gig workers help improve litter collection? Philadelphia app aims to tackle the problem
Read the full story at Waste Dive.
Glitter, backed by tech entrepreneurs and a sanitation worker turned Instagram star, asks sponsors to pay for neighborhood cleanups. So far, Philadelphia’s Streets Department is not convinced.
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