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Introducing :
A smart, community-driven food waste reduction platform called "PlateMate.
"The Real-World Problem:
Households and small local cafes often throw away surplus, edible food due to over-purchasing or imperfect demand forecasting. This creates unnecessary waste, financial loss, and environmental harm, while others in the community may face food insecurity.Who Benefits &
How:Consumers (Users):
Benefit by purchasing high-quality, surplus food (e.g., a day-old pastry, a surplus lunch salad) at a significant discount (50-70% off).Small
Cafes/Bakeries (Vendors):
Recoup costs on food that would otherwise be trash, turning waste into revenue. It also drives foot traffic and promotes a sustainable brand image.
The Environment:
Directly reduces food waste sent to landfills, lowering methane emissions.Why This Matters to Me: I am deeply concerned about climate change and the massive inefficiency in our food systems. Seeing perfectly good food discarded daily at local shops and in student housing feels like a solvable problem. This project combines my interest in sustainability with practical business and technology.
Technical Details (MVP - Minimum Viable Product):
The MVP would be a simple mobile-focused web app (using a framework like React Native or Flutter for future app scalability) with a basic backend (Node.js + MongoDB).
Vendor Side:
A simple portal to quickly list surplus food items with a photo, description, price, and pickup time window.
User Side:
A geolocated feed showing available surplus meals nearby. Users can purchase items instantly (integrating a simple payment API like Stripe).Core
Hypothesis to Test:
Will local vendors consistently list their surplus? Will consumers reliably purchase this "imperfect" inventory?
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