Assessing the Environmental Balance of a Food Waste Web Platform : A Hilty Framework Analysis of "Too Good To Go"

Details

Supervisors

Marichal, Xavier

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

enThis thesis assesses the net environmental impact of Too Good To Go, a food waste reduction platform, using the Hilty framework. As ICT-based platforms emerge as promising tools to tackle end-of-chain food surplus, the goal is to determine whether Too Good To Go is truly a viable solution. While the platform generates a meaningful environmental benefit by rescuing surplus food, this benefit can be undermined both by the behavioural shifts it induces among users and partners, and by the environmental cost embedded in its own digital infrastructure. To answer this question, the study first reviews the literature on food waste and ICT before introducing the Hilty framework as an analytical lens. The study then analyses the behavioural impacts at both partner and consumer levels, and ultimately provides a grounded answer as to whether using the application is genuinely beneficial, and under what conditions it truly is.