Finding a good home for leftover food

Nonprofit Social enterprise FoodCloud works with industry partners to support community groups by distributing surplus food and providing nutrition education

Aoibheann O’Brien of FoodCloud.

In Ireland, we waste approximately 835,000 tonnes of food every year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and this has consequences for everyone. It’s an economic issue — we’re literally throwing money away; it has environmental repercussions as food waste accounts for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions; and it has a social impact — 9% of the Irish population lives in food poverty.

FoodCloud has been working to bridge the gaps by connecting food businesses with local charitable partners and ensuring that surplus food — perfectly good food that would be thrown away due to overproduction or short shelf life — finds a good home. The nonprofit social enterprise was started by Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward when they met as students at Trinity College in 2012. The beginning was simple: they connected a farmers’ market with surplus food to a teenage residential care centre that needed it.