leftoverswap.comWell, it's happened. There's officially an app for everything.
iPhone apps have made it so that people can find almost anything they would ever want, often thanks to other app users around them. Want a ride? There's Lyft for that. Want penetration? There's Grindr (or OK Cupid, or Blendr, or a million other apps) for that.
Want to eat someone else's leftovers? Meet LeftoverSwap.
LeftoverSwap, created by Dan Newman and Bryan Summersett, is as straightforward as the name implies. There are two types of users: Those wanting to procure leftovers and those who want to get rid of leftovers.
"You're hungry. And cheap. We understand," the website insults you as soon as you log on. But you're not just cheap, "You also care about reducing waste, eating locally, and want to build relationships within your community."
"Simply fire up LeftoverSwap, view the available leftovers around you, make your selection, and arrange for pick-up or delivery," it explains. "Your cheap, local, and community-oriented meal is waiting."
(Eating locally is used in the loosest sense of that phrase. And "community-oriented," here, just means that someone else in your community ate part of it first. Half of a Gordita from Taco Bell does not become locally grown because it came from the dude in 3B.)
For the givers: "You hate the idea of throwing out food, but also don't want to be eating the same leftovers for the next few days. We understand," the site continues. "You want to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and fertilizer as well. We also understand that."
There are no rules, per se, for LeftoverSwap, but a few guidelines stipulated on the site: The golden guideline being, "Don't give away any food that you wouldn't eat yourself." It suggests also knowing how old the food you're getting is and where it was stored.
There is a market for LeftoverSwap, we don't doubt that. Some people will eat anything. But the app sells itself on its more noble aspirations: "Through increasing the efficiency of each plot of land dedicated to food production, we can reduce our intensive use of natural resources, and reduce our expansion into sensitive environmental areas."
OK. Sure. Why not.
"With LeftoverSwap, there's less waste and fewer people picking through dumpsters: a win-win." But the people picking through dumpsters for food are probably...homeless. And don't have iPhones. The people using LeftoverSwap on the other hand are drunk.
The app is relatively new, so the Leftover community is still blossoming. This morning, the only leftovers up for grabs in the entire Los Angeles area were these carrots:
Any takers?