Food Rescuers Prevented the Emission of 75 Tonnes of Greenhouse Gas

The Climate Protection Award

The award aimed to recognize businesses that consider environmental protection important not only in their communications, but also integrate it into their everyday work, because if we don't apply the necessary tools in practice, theoretical knowledge alone won't be enough.

Twelve applications were received for the competition, so the jury had a difficult task in reaching the final decision. There were ideas in their initial stages, but there were also already developed startups in the field. The final decision was made on the basis of social and environmental sustainability.

Munch as the Winning Business

Munch.hu is a domestically developed platform through which nearly 130 restaurants, bakeries, shops and hotels sell unsold but high-quality food at discounted prices. The app and website were founded in the summer of 2020 by 4 university students – Kirill Perepelica, Bence Zwecker, Botond Zsoldos and Albert Wettstein – but today the team consists of more than 15 enthusiastic young people, and they were also selected for the Design Terminal Mentorship Program. So far, more than 13,000 users have joined the initiative, and the community shares their personal "food rescue" experiences with each other through a nearly 8,000-member Facebook group.

The goal of Munch.hu is to promote sustainable, responsible hospitality and corporate social responsibility by reducing food waste, in which the economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainability also play a significant role. By selling unsold food, everyone benefits – food service providers gain additional revenue, and guests get high-quality food at discounted prices. In five months, by saving food portions from being thrown away, they prevented the emission of nearly 75 tonnes of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas. With the help of user contributions, they also regularly provide hot meals to people in need.

Future Development Opportunities

"We believe that with the help of this award, we can draw the attention of even more people to the fact that food is valuable. However, this requires broad cooperation in which market, government and civil society actors work together to reduce food waste. If we can achieve a change in mindset on this issue together, we can live in a more sustainable and perhaps happier society." – said Albert Wettstein, co-founder of Munch, after the award ceremony, noting that Munch has also launched in Budapest, Debrecen and Szeged, but they are also expecting food service providers from other settlements to join, both domestically and internationally.