Rerun: Optimizing Food Waste Recovery through Algorithms, with Maen Mahfoud

Climate Break

Food Waste is a Global Problem with a Big Carbon Footprint

One-third of all food produced is wasted every year – approximately 1.3 billion tons. The UN Environment Program estimates that 3.3 billion tons of CO2 are emitted annually from the resources used to produce wasted food. In the United States alone, 133 billion pounds of edible food, valued at $161 billion, is wasted every year.

Replate’s Solution

Enter Replate: a technology-based nonprofit that works to reduce food insecurity and waste while mitigating food waste´s effects on climate change. The organization provides a solution for businesses to donate surplus food to nearby nonprofits operating throughout the United States and the Middle East. Replate’s services are designed to prevent such food waste through source reduction and donating meals to communities experiencing food insecurity. Its algorithm connects donor organizations to nonprofits, diverting food from landfills while increasing food access.

How Replate Works

Their organization operates through a web app. Donors can schedule pick-up services, then track the environmental and social impact of their donations. Nonprofits can sign up to receive donations using an online form. Replate then works to understand these organizations' capacity and food needs before drop off. Replate works with hundreds of corporations including Netflix, Boston Consulting Group, Whole Foods, Chipotle, Walmart, and more to match businesses with communities in need. Since its founding, Replate has recovered over 3.6 million pounds of food, delivered over three million meals, and served 301 nonprofits. It estimates that to date the program has saved 985 million gallons of water and diverted 3,686 tons of carbon emissions.

Connections to California Composting Goals

As organic material like food and agricultural waste decomposes, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas eighty-four times more potent than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over a 20-year period. Enacted in January 2022, California’s Short-Lived Pollutant Reduction law SB-1383 targets is trying to address methane emissions due to organic waste. SB-1383 is expected to reduce California’s methane emissions from organic materials in traditional landfills by an estimated twenty percent. As part of the law, large food service providers, distributors, and industries falling under the Tier 1 category—food service providers, food distributors, wholesale food vendors, supermarkets and grocery stores over 10,000 square feet—are required to reduce their organic waste material disposal. Platforms like Replate can help businesses reduce their food waste and comply with SB-1383.

Maen Mahfoud is the founder and CEO of Replate. Witnessing the alarming levels of food insecurity, and enormous amounts of food waste in the Bay Area, his knowledge of the massive effects of food waste on our planet motivated Mahfoud to launch Replate in 2016. Maen is a DRK entrepreneur, a 2023 recipient of the James Irvine Foundation Leadership, and was sponsored by Harvard Business School's Executive Program. Mahfoud holds a Master’s in Public Health from Imperial College London, a degree in Molecular Biology from UC Berkeley, and a Human-Computer Interaction for User Experience Design Certificate from MIT.

For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/optimizing-food-waste-recovery-through-algorithms-with-maen-mahfoud/