New app Kitche launched to tackle rising household food waste

A new app has been launched which promises to save families money and reduce waste by helping consumers use up the leftovers in the back of their fridge.

Alex Vlassopulos, who works at Google, founded Kitche after he looked for a solution to curb the trend of rising amounts of food waste in the home.

The app is used to scan receipts and design recipe plans to ensure minimal food waste, saving money and reducing the environmental impact.

“We created Kitche after I spoke with friends in the park one afternoon about the amount of food that people just chuck from their fridges. We wanted to do something to try and fix this,” he told PA.

The platform creates a digital list of users’ food items through photos of receipts, which can then be used for recipe creation to reduce wastage.

Users will also get notifications from the app five days after fruit and vegetables have been bought, to remind them to use products before they go off.

“We first discussed the idea around four years ago, but since then the issue of waste has gained more and more attention.

“We are pleased to see Government and retailers taking action in this area and we’re here to become a household name for fighting food waste.”

Kitche provides users with thousands of recipes, which are filtered based on the products in the user’s fridge and sent to them to give them pointers on how to use up the items.

The platform is available on Android and the founder said it is moving forward with plans to launch an iOS version.

The app is the latest to address the issue of food waste, but the founder said that those currently available, such as Too Good To Go and Olio, focused predominantly on commercial waste rather than the “larger issue” of domestic food waste.

Food waste has been given increasing attention by policy-makers in recent months, with Michael Gove stepping up the Government’s efforts to reduce food waste earlier this year.

The former environment secretary warned supermarkets that they could face fines if they fail to reduce wastage and also appointed the first food waste champion.

Ben Elliot, who was appointed as the Government’s food surplus and waste champion, hailed the potential of the new platform.

He said: “It’s brilliant to see inspiring and innovative companies such as Kitche standing up and taking action, demonstrating the invaluable role that tech can, and must, play in our collective fight against food waste.”