Green Plate wins Rep. Donald Norcross’ 2022 Congressional App Challenge in New Jersey’s First District

When asked what inspired the creation of Green Plate, the student said, ”I was inspired to create Green Plate to combat food waste, a prevalent issue. According to a study published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, the average American household wasted 31.9% of its food. Furthermore, the annual cost of this wasted food was estimated to be $1,866 per household – that accumulates to a total of $240 billion worth of food waste in the US.

Food waste is not only a major issue because of the loss of food and money, but also because of its negative impact on the environment. When food is wasted, all of the energy, water, and resources used to produce and transport it is also wasted. Furthermore, when food goes to the landfill and eventually rots, it produces methane, which is a greenhouse gas that is even more potent than carbon dioxide. In fact, solid waste landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the US, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

In addition, in my own personal experience, I noticed that my family sometimes had to throw our produce or dairy products away simply because they expired before we ever got around to incorporating them into a meal or because we never found a good recipe to use it in. I wanted to create an app that would help families like my own be more aware of how much food we were purchasing and be more mindful about our meal planning. In this way, we would be able to be economical and efficient with our food and help play our role in decreasing food waste worldwide.”