Sexy Food Waste Solutions
Lorraine White, President and Founder of M-PASS Environmental, this week announced a new partnership with Atlanta-based Goodr. The enterprise brings together M-PASS, an independent waste management and recycling company and Goodr, a high-tech solution to address the dual challenges of food waste and hunger. Together, they will provide better solutions to food waste issues, particularly in the hospitality industry.
“A big benefit of the new program will make food waste collection available to smaller quantity food generators, said White. “For example, it will make it possible for coffee houses and small businesses to compost cost-effectively.” M-PASS has a long history consulting on recycling within the food and beverage industries, which will help broaden the reach of Goodr as they expand.
“Organics recycling has been a bit of a challenge in Atlanta because we’ve had limited options,” said White. “And due to the high cost of transporting the organic material to composting facilities outside the metro area, food scrap collection service can be expensive for commercial customers,” White continued. “We see a great opportunity for our two companies to combine skills to increase our services enabling us to better redirect food waste locally while also ensuring that edible food gets to communities that need it.”
Goodr’s model aims to provide a triple-win solution by improving an organization’s bottom line through charitable tax donations, reduction of its greenhouse emissions from landfills, and getting its edible surplus food to local communities in need. When companies subscribe to the paid service, they upload their menu and other information onto the Goodr app. At the end of the day, they are able to calculate a pickup’s total weight, retail and tax value, carbon emissions and more! Edible food is taken directly to an organization that has registered in their system to accept donations.
“Goodr believes that hunger isn’t a scarcity issue – it’s a logistics issue,” said JASMINE CROWE, CEO of Goodr. “We’ve developed a method that helps a company’s bottom line while getting edible surplus food to local communities in need, and ensuring the remaining food is recycled.“ When asked about the inspiration for the company name, Crow added, “I wanted to convey the message of doing good while rescuing, hence the ‘r’.”
Together, M-PASS and Goodr will provide a more cost-effective food waste solution to help “Feed More Waste Less.”
In case you’re wondering …questions and answers
How big is the hunger problem today in the United States?
Every year in the United States, we waste over 72 billion pounds of perfectly edible food while 42 million people suffer from food insecurity.
How long have M-PASS Environmental and GoodR been in the recycling business?
M-PASS has fifteen years’ experience as a waste and recycling cost reduction consulting company. Their early ability to deliver consistent cost reduction results to customers promoted rapid growth. Goodr was founded in 2017 by Jasmine Crowe. Her idea grew out of her personal experiences of feeding hungry people in her community. Though they’ve been around less than five years, they already operate in ten cities and plan to double that number by the end of 2020.
What is M-PASS’s history with organic waste?
For most of its history, M-PASS Environmental has been working closely with the restaurant community in the Atlanta Metro area to provide quality waste and recycling programs at a reduced cost. Working in tandem with the Georgia Restaurant Association, they have promoted – and delivered – sustainable programs to help restaurant operators recycle easily and effectively and cut costs by avoiding landfills. M-PASS even has a dedicated glass recycling program, something impossible to find in many cities.
What makes Goodr different from other groups that collect leftover food to deliver to institutions fighting hunger?
Unlike most operations, Goodr has a fully-paid staff, (including their drivers, resulting in increased accountability) and offers access to a SaaS platform that allows customers to live track their food waste data. They also provide liability insurance, as well as the necessary packaging supplies.
How exactly does it work?
It’s like placing an order for food delivery except this time, it’s the businesses that place the order. When food donors sign up, Goodr takes their menu data and uploads it to the Goodr app. When service is finished for the day, Goodr’s technology can calculate the retail value and weight per serving per item. The food donor enters the quantity of servings per food item they have and request a pick-up.
And the business is able to file for tax credits for their donations because Goodr keeps precise accounting of the value of donations.
Nonprofit organizations register as well, sign a donation policy which states what times they accept food and how many people they serve, and the donation goes straight to the organizations the same day.
Is all the food picked up donated?
All edible food is donated, while anything deemed non-edible organic waste is recycled/re-purposed with one of our many partner facilities.
What is blockchain technology?
Most simply, it is a secure ledger of collected data.
How did this partnership come about?
M-PASS and Goodr met at an event about sustainability hosted by the Atlanta representative of Ketel One Vodka. The dinner was all about using sustainable products and locally-grown food, and some people were talking compost. It was a natural place for inspiration.