2021 IEEE Mysore Sub Section International Conference (MysuruCon)

Development of Leftover food management system

using efficient hunger search techniques
Naveen Kumar G N Jeevith R Sai Sushanth Nukala
Department of Computer Science Department of Computer Science Department of Computer Science and
and Engineering and Engineering Engineering
Ramaiah University of Applied Ramaiah University of Ramaiah University of Applied
Sciences Applied Sciences Sciences
Bengaluru, India Bengaluru, India Bengaluru, India
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Manoj Kumar V Sahana. P. Shankar Srikanth Kandarp

Department of Computer Science Dept of Computer Science and Dept of Computer Science and
and Engineering Engineering Engineering
Ramaiah University of Ramaiah University of Applied Ramaiah University of Applied
2021 IEEE Mysore Sub Section International Conference (MysuruCon) | 978-1-6654-3888-9/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/MYSURUCON52639.2021.9641624

Applied Sciences Sciences Sciences

Bengaluru, India Bengaluru, India Bengaluru, India
[email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8977-9898 [email protected]

Abstract— it is no secret that food waste is a big away every day, from uneaten leftovers to spoiled
problem. While food waste presents both moral and produce. By managing food sustainably and reducing
economic dilemmas, it also creates environmental waste, we can help businesses and consumers save
problems. Food waste has noticeable impacts on money, connect communities to help each other,
hunger and malnutrition, it also effects environment in mainly to those who do not have enough to eat, and
a severe way. The current improvements to overcome conserve resources for future generations.
food waste are mainly focused on redirecting the large-
scale food leftovers but not focused on house hold food Food waste refers to intentional discards of food fit
leftovers. Hence, we propose a digital application to for consumption. It typically takes place at the retail
channelize the excess food in both large scale and small and consumption stages in the food supply chain
scale to people in need. Using mobile application as a through the behavior of organizations and
platform helps us reach larger section of people individuals. [2] Considering the amount of people
making it easily scalable. The users who are willing to starving every day, the food wastage is undeniable.
donate food can register themselves as donors and
users who are in need of help can register as receivers. Many organizations have taken necessary actions to
This approach of combining technology and focus on tackle the food waste crisis, launching initiatives and
house hold leftovers help us prevent unnecessary food approaches. As a result, public and private
waste. The distribution of the donations will follow the institutions have developed policy, interventions and
discussed Hunger search Algorithm. incentives to encourage consumers to reduce their
domestic food waste. [4] The donation of food which
Keywords— Food Waste Management, food leftover is still edible can be seen as a specific application of
management, Mobile application, House hold food charity as food is recovered for its original purpose,
leftovers, Haversine formula, elliptic boundary, circular human intake. [3]
boundary, donation, donor, receiver, helper, volunteer
The advent of digital tools has bestowed a different
outlook on the food industry. [13] Consumers today
I. INTRODUCTION have the privilege to choose from a variety of
Many people across the globe die of hunger every cuisines, anywhere, anytime from a range of food
year and still huge amount of food gets wasted. providers listed in the e-commerce space. We believe
According to the recent Food Waste Index Report by such a smart digital platform is essential to bridge the
United Nations Environment Programme [1], in gap between donors and respective receivers, where
Indian households 50 kg of food is being thrown donors can communicate about the excess food and
away per person every year. This excess food usually eligible receivers can avail this help to fulfil their
ends up in landfills, creating potent greenhouse gases needs.
which have dreadful environmental implications. There are a number of digital applications to collect
According to a figure estimated by the Food and monetary donations from interested donors and use
Agricultural Organization (FAO), nearly 40 per cent them to contribute to those in need. The main factor
[7] of the food produced in India is wasted every year most of these platforms do not focus is food-
due to existing food systems and inefficient supply leftovers, unspoiled food which is fit for
chains. This loss occurs even before the food reaches consumption i.e., house-hold food leftovers
the consumer. There is also a significant amount of contributes the majority share in total wasted food.
food waste generated in normal households. Most of
the people do not realize how much food they throw

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This paper deliberates about a mobile application • Point to point messaging
which can be used to direct the food leftover in both In this architecture, when two applications need
large scale and small scale to those who are actually to communicate with one another, a connection is
in need. The users can register themselves as donors established and a connector enables application-1 to
and receivers. The donors can post information about speak to application-2 by sending a message. A
the excess food they have which reaches all the connector is a bridge that allows the exchange of
eligible receivers through the application. The data or application functionalities in a structured
application runs on effective algorithm which manner. Connectors handle the complexities of
manages to shortlist receivers based on their location message translation, integration and any other
and need of food. After this sorting and notifying, the relating messages operations used to access the
receivers can show their interest in receiving food application features. And if it is needed to change
wherein either donor or receiver can afford either of the applications or add a new one to the
themselves for transportation. If both of them cannot network, the interfaces of all the applications have
transport, another user who is registered as volunteer to update as well.
can help them out. This approach of projecting the
leftover food to those who are actually in need can • Observer Design Pattern
make a big difference in food being wasted. This mainly consists of two entities, the Object
The authors of this report acknowledge that food (subject) and the Observers. So basically the Object
donations alone cannot solve the pressing challenge will maintain a list of its observers, and whenever
of food waste, as this would require addressing the there is any change in the state or when an event
underlying understanding of value of food is its root occurs the Object will notify all the observers about
cause. However, It is believed that preventing food the event or state change if any.
waste is any human’s responsibility and hopefully • Publish-Subscribe pattern
setting up such platforms can encourage people to
actively take part in donations. This involves two main entities namely
publishers and subscribers. Publishers are the ones
who sends the message and the subscribers are
basically receivers. Here the subscribers and the
II. LITERATURE SURVEY publishers are unaware of each other. This is how it
According to Serhat Murat Alagoz & Haluk basically works, whenever there is a new message,
Hekimoglu (2012) [11], the food industry is showing the publisher classifies the message into a certain
a steady growth. According to Sheryl E. Kimes topic and post to that topic. All the subscribers will
(2011) [12], his study found that control and show their interest in topics by registering
convenience associated with the online food themselves as subscribers of that topic. Whenever a
ordering services were important for users. In our publisher posts to any topic, all the receivers
use case even though there are several people subscribed to that topic will be get the message.
offering donations, there is no proper channel to • Data Flow Architecture
deliver this information to the concerned audience.
In this architecture, the whole system is seen as
These food ordering services not only provide us
series of transformations applied to data through a
with ease and convenience but also motivate us to series of computational components called filters.
build and utilize such platforms to spread This includes mainly two components, pipes and
information about the donations. filters. Pipes transmit the data between filters, and
filters take input of certain format and do
Based on S-O-R model [14], terms such as "mobile computation on that input and then forwards the
push notifications" or "push messages" can be transformed input to the next filter until it gives the
regarded as triggers that influence the consumer as desired output. The main objective of this pattern is
an organism and provoke a reaction, as these to achieve reusability and modularity. Based on the
notifications can potentially influence the execution sequence, this architecture is of three
responsive behavior of customers [15]. types:
1. Batch Sequential
However, there are certain constraints in reaching 2. Pipe and Filter (Non-sequential)
every house with extra food and technology was one 3. Process Control
among them. But considering today’s technological
developments, it shouldn’t be a problem in reaching Pipe and Filter pattern
larger section of people. Below are some of the
technical solutions that can help us reach out target This approach emphasizes on incremental
audience in an efficient way. These notifications are transformation of data by successive components. In
displayed on the lock screen or in the notification bar this approach, the flow of data is driven by data and
the whole system is decomposed into components of
of the smartphone and are often called "push
data source, filters, pipes, and data sinks. The main
notifications".
feature of this architecture is its concurrent and
incremented execution.

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 III. RELATED WORK • Feeding India
There are few non-profitable organizations and A non-profit social enterprise aims to solve the
several initiatives and spread across the country problem of hunger and malnutrition in the country.
volunteering these services which shall be discussed They distribute excess food from restaurants, events,
below. corporates, weddings, etc. to people in need and also
run sustained feeding programs through their own
• Annakshetra kitchens. Feeding India operates with a network of
It is a Jaipur based organization[10] and was the 3,500 plus volunteers in 45 plus cities of India [10].
first to start this donate food trend in 2010. They It has served over 5 million meals to beneficiaries in
work mainly for daily wage workers, sanitation need.
workers, people located in vegetable markets, and
• Rise against hunger India
malnourished children, etc. They generally collect
foods at night and they distribute to the needy only An international hunger relief organization that
after they get thumbs up from their medical experts distributes food and provides needed help to the
world’s most vulnerable by channelizing necessary
• No Food Waste resources to end hunger by 2030.
No Food Waste is an organization which collects
• Robin Hood Army
excess food from weddings, parties, events and
distribute to those who are hungry. The idea took A non-government-based organization (NGO)
birth in Coimbatore, where it began with a volunteer located in 41 cities of India. It is a volunteer-based
and 2 Shopper Bags to collect the surplus food and organization who collect food from restaurants and
deliver to the homeless through Public even Convention halls and distribute it to the needy
Transportation. people.

• Feeding India by Zomato • Wrap It Don’t Waste Food

This provides the right means for compassionate A Chennai based organization that collect foods
citizens to begin and manage initiatives to help from restaurants, parties and weddings. They provide
hungry people locally. Nearly 26,000 plus volunteers food to the underprivileged people. It is an initiative
across 100 plus cities in India work towards the joint associated with “Reunite to Redefine India” [10]
mission of ‘better food for more people’ and ‘zero awareness program.
hunger’ to take the dream of ending hunger a step
closer to reality.

Fig. 1. Conceptual diagram of proposed solution

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 IV. PROPOSED WORK latitude and longitude are coordinates of the user’s
A restaurant owner or any person can register location. This is useful to calculate straight line
himself as a helper (either donor or volunteer), while distance and route distance between any two entities.
the organizations willing to get food donations from
the application, will register themselves as a
receiver. • Organization
Id - a unique id that refers to organization.
If any helper wants to donate food to nearby
organization, he can put up a donation notification, name, phone, area, city, state and pincode,
the hunger search algorithm filters all the description describe general information about the
organizations located within a pre-decided distance organization. latitude and longitude are coordinates
limit and that fits other donation criteria (e.g. of the organization.
Veg/Non-Veg, or number of people in the
organization). isVeg - Boolean value to know whether organization
prefers veg food only.
The donation notifications are sent to several
organizations’ caretakers (user or receiver), who are No_of_people - number of people who reside in the
expected to be the point of contact of the respective organization.
organizations as scheduled by the algorithm. (more caretaker - This is the unique string which carries a
on this later). The notification vanishes as soon as reference to the user; the person to contact.
receiver accepts the donation.
Either the donor or the receiver should be able to
deliver food to the destination. If neither of them can • Donation
deliver, receiver can put up a help-request which id - a unique id that refers to notification.
will notify all the users (helpers) in the vicinity. If
any helper is interested to help, user can accept the isVeg - Boolean value to indicate whether the food
pick-up request and deliver the food to the donation. is veg or non -veg.
This way it is possible to eliminate a single party No_of_meals - number of meals available for
maintaining all the logistics, giving control to the donation.
users to discuss and decide. After all it is believed
that helping one-another is any person’s posted_at - time when the donation notification was
responsibility. posted.
Pick_up_latitude and pick_up_longitude are
coordinates of the pickup location.
Database Schema
area, city, state and pincode, description describe
The data is stored in unstructured format to general information. City, here is used to filter
enable easy distribution of continuously generated organizations inside the city.
large number of donation notification among posted_by, received_by and delivered_by are
multiple machines. This helps in faster retrieval of references to users who post, receive and deliver
needed information by decreasing traffic around a donations.
single machine, which means lesser documents to
check in every machine. Self_drop indicates whether the donor will be able
to deliver food by himself.
Entities Status - integer to indicate donation status.
0 → SEARCHING_FOR_RECEIVER
• User
firebaseUid- a unique id that refers to user. 1 → CANCELLED
name, phone, email, area, city, state and pincode 2 → REQUESTED_PICKUP
describe general user information. 3 → DELIVERING
Type - There are two types of users in the 4 → EXECUTED
application, A person who helps or donates, and a
person who takes care of an organization and last_modified - time when the donation notification
receives donation notifications on behalf of the status was modified.
organization. I.e. Donor (Helper) and a Receiver Orgs - list of organizations for which the
Organization - This is the unique string which notification has to be delivered.
carries a reference to an organization. Token - the index of the organization in orgs which
fcm_token - This is the unique string that identifies should be notified next.
a mobile device, this string is useful for delivering
messages to the mobile device of the user.

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Likes - This feature is to maintain social engagement User has posted a donation notification, Receiver is
between users. References to users who have liked found, but receiver has requested help to pick-up the
the executed donation. donation.
Note - the names volunteer, donor and receiver 3 →
refer to same entity user, different names in the
User has posted a donation notification, Receiver is
context to be clearer about the different kinds of
found, Either Donor, Receiver or Volunteer is
users.
delivering the food to the destination.
4 →
Note - Notification refer to donation notification
in this context.
Donation successfully delivered to destination.

Relations Using haversine formula [5] to calculate the great-

circle distance between two geo-locations (latitude
• One User → can post→ many Donation and longitude). An approximation of this value is
A user can donate as much as he can, so the user used to filter organizations around the donor.
can add multiple donation notifications. but user can
post only one donation notification at a time. One Haversine formula (la1, la2, ln1, ln2)
donation has to be complete before the user posts
&'(
next one. = !"#$ % ) + +,! -. 1/ × +,!-. 2/ ×
$
&'1
• One User →takes care of→ one organization !"#$ % ) (1)
$
A person can receive donation notifications on
behalf of an organization. This person will be the
point of contact for the organization. + = 2 × 2 #2- √ × 41 − / (2)

6"!2 #+7 = × +
• one Donation→can be sent to→many User (3)
A Donation Notification is supposed to notify
8ℎ7:7,
<. = |. 1 − . 2|
multiple organizations, and hence their care-takers.
• One User→ can accept→many Donation <.# = |.#1 − .#2|
. 1 = !,>:+7 . 2"2>67
.#1 = !,>:+7 .,#?"2>67
A user can accept one or more donations, but
. 2 = 67!2"# 2",# . 2"2>67
user can process only one at a time.
.#2 = 67!2"# 2",# .,#?"2>67
R is earth’s radius (~6371km), latitude and longitudes are
Hunger search Algorithm taken in radians
Before proceeding to the actual algorithm, let us
From the flowchart, it is seen that server is
understand few pre-requisites listed below.
continuously monitoring the database, any change in
_ = 20 the database triggers the server running on the cloud.
This will be the maximum radius in kilometers to Server is setup to act only on following
find organizations looking for donations. circumstances.
_ _ = 5
• On creating a new donation notification.
This will be the maximum absolute difference • On update in existing donation notification.
between the number of people in organization and • Every one minute.
number of meals available for donation. A small
difference is adjustable, because it is impossible to Each scenario is discussed below.
find the right fit.
A donation can be seen in 5 different stages, namely • On creating a new donation notification.
0 → _ _
step 1.
User has posted a donation notification, he is waiting Add origin timestamp on donation creation
for the receiver to accept the donation.
step 2.
1 → Organizations = fetch all the organizations in
As name suggests the donation has been cancelled the same city
". 7. += + -4/
2 → _
8ℎ7:7
+ ∶ :? #"B 2",#. +"2C
+ ∶ #,2"D"+ 2",#. +"2C

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step 3. Alternatively, the ellipse method [6] can be used
Filter out locations off delivery limits
6≥ _ -5/
8ℎ7:7,
6∶ F7:!"#7_6"!2 #+7- . , .#, . , .#/
6 ∶ :? #"B 2",#. 6"!2 #+7
. ∶ :? #"B 2",#. . 2"2>67
.# ∶ :? #"B 2",#. .,#?"2>67
. ∶ 6,# 2",#. G"+H_>G_. 2"2>67
.# ∶ 6,# 2",#. G"+H_>G_.,#?"2>67
step 4.
Filter out locations which doesn’t match food- Fig. 2. elliptic boundary to find helpers in surroundings of
donor and receiver
requirements
| # − #| > _ _ -6/
Find all the helpers who are at geo-location (x,y),
8ℎ7:7, given that (h,k) is the midpoint equi-distant from
# ∶ , ,D G7,G.7 "# 2ℎ7 ,:?# "B 2",# both Receiver and Donor. (h,k) could be the origin
# ∶ , ,D K7 .! F ". L.7 D,: 6,# 2",# of the imaginary ellipse with minor axis of length P
step 5. and major axis of length Q. This approach can be
Order the remaining organizations in the non- more optimal in confining the total round-trip of the
decreasing order of the distance. volunteer to certain limits as compared to using
step 6. circle. But here it is needed to decide two
parameters, P and Q.
Attach this list of organizations ids to the
-RSO/T -VSW/T
donation, organizations (orgs)
+ <= 1 -6/
step 7. UT XT
Initialize the token to first organization in the
list, • Send notifications to all of them, who pass the
E.g., 2,H7# = 0, meaning chance will be given above decided criteria.
to first organization • Send notification to 6,# 2",#. G,!276_LC i.e.
6,#,:
step 8.
It is necessary to update donor that receiver has
Update organizations(orgs), token and accepted request and requested for help
posted_at of the donation
step 5.
• On updating existing donation notification If 6,# 2",#. !2 2>! == 3, do
It is important to inform both donor and receiver
step 1. that a volunteer has accepted the pick_up
If 6,# 2",#. !2 2>! == 0, do request.
If " < 6., do • send notification to 6,# 2",#. G,!276_LC,
Send notification to " NO organization’s • send notification to
care_taker 6,# 2",#. :7+7"F76_LC. + :72 H7:,
8ℎ7:7
6.: #>KL7: ,D !ℎ,:2."!276_,:? #"B 2",#!, step 6.
": 2,H7# #>KL7: If 6,# 2",#. !2 2>! == 4, do
step 2. When the order has been delivered successfully,
If 6,# 2",#. !2 2>! == 1, do inform donor, receiver and the volunteer
• send notification to 6,# 2",#. G,!276_LC,
Send notification to donor
• send notification to 6,# 2",#. 67."F7:76_LC
step 3.
If 6,# 2",#. !2 2>! == 2, do
ℎ7.G7:!=fetch all helpers in the same city • Every minute
i.e. >!7:. 2CG7 == ,#,: and
If a notified receiver does not respond within one
>!7:!. +"2C == 6,# 2",#. +"2C
minute, inform next receiver in the list.
step 4.
Consider only helpers who lie in Note: Receiver once notified, can view and respond
"!2 #+7 -6, ℎ/ < _ , -7/ to the donation notification even after that one
8ℎ7:7 minute, given that no other receiver has accepted it
6: 6,#,:, ℎ: ℎ7.G7: already.

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The food is most likely to be perishable and hence A secure authentication system which provides
the donor cannot wait for long. So, algorithm cancels variety of login and signup methods
the donation by itself after a span of 60 minutes. • Firebase Messaging
A service to send push notifications to users’
step 1. devices.
."F7 ,# 2",#! = Fetch all the live notifications • Firebase Analytics
i.e., 6,# 2",#. !2 2>! == 0 A service which keeps monitoring the activities
step 2. and performance of the firebase project.
For every notification in ."F7 ,# 2",#!, do
If 2"K7 "DD7:7#+7-6G , #,8/ ≥ 59 K"#>27!, do • Location services
Update 6,# 2",#. !2 2>! = 1
Continue Library containing functions to find out geo-
Otherwise do, locations of the device in the form of latitude and
Update 62 = 62 + 1 longitude.
i.e., inform the next organization in the list.
• Google Maps & Directions API
8ℎ7:7,
6G ∶ 6,# 2",#. G,!276_ 2
62 ∶ 6,# 2",#. 2,H7#
Google service to calculate route-distances and
display routes in the application.
Note: It need not explicitly notify the receiver, on
update function will take care of sending V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
notifications to user, depending on the update.
Different use-cases that give insights about actual
Technologies used working of the algorithm:

• Flutter Case 1:

Flutter is an open-source User Interface software Donor: put the donation notification
development kit or a framework created by Google. Receiver: Still not found
Flutter is used to develop cross platform mobile Self-drop: true
application for Android and iOS. What will happen?
The donor will wait for maximum of 60 minutes, if
no receiver accepts the notification. Every minute
• Provider
one new receiver will be notified in next 60 minutes,
after that, notification self-expires.
Provider is a facility in flutter framework to hold
state information of the different entities interacting.
Case 2:
• Dart Donor: put the donation notification
Receiver: Accepted the donation
Dart is a programming language used in front end Self-drop: true
development. The language is object-oriented, class- Can receiver pickup: no
based and garbage-collected with C-style syntax. What will happen?
The donor will deliver the food to destination.
• Firebase
Case 3:
Firebase is developed by google as well. It offers
cloud services in the form of Platform as a Service Donor: put the donation notification
(PAAS)[9]. Firebase provides number of features. Receiver: Accepted the donation
But five features of the firebase are used primarily Self-drop: false
in the application. Can receiver pickup: yes
What will happen?
• Firestore Database The receiver will go pickup food from the location.
A simple No-SQL database to store
unstructured collection of data documents. Case 4:
• Cloud Functions
Functions that are deployed on internet and gets Donor: put the donation notification
triggered upon occurrence of certain event. Receiver: Accepted the donation
• Firebase Authenication Self-drop: false

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Can receiver pickup: no
What will happen?
Delivery Notification will be sent to the donor and
other donors with details about donation, location
and route.

Case 4.1:

Helper accepts the pick-up request: yes Fig. 4. push notification on receiver’s device.
Helper picks up donation and delivers to receiver.
Receiver has to update the status once he receives Figure 6.a and 6.b show that both donor (figure 6.a)
the order. and helper (figure 6.b) get notified when receiver
requests for help. Either one of them can respond. In
Case 4.2: this case let us assume that volunteer (Manoj
Kumar) accepts the request by clicking on help. The
Helper accepts the pick-up request: no receiver and donor are then updated with the status
Receiver keeps waiting until no one responds, if no of the donation.
helper responds either donor or receiver are
requested to contact each other with details provided
and make necessary arrangements for delivery.

Demonstration of application

In figure 3.a and figure 3.b, Donor creates a donation

notification by tapping on donate on homescreen,
user provides required information and publishes it
by clicking on submit. The user is expected to wait
until he receives an update. The server monitoring
the database will notify receivers as explained in the
algorithm.

Fig. 5. a. Receiver clicking on tapping accept b. Receiver

choosing request help option

Fig. 3. a. when donor clicks on donate b. after submitting

the form

Receiver is shown the donation notification on his

live screen (figure 4), since the donor unselected
self-drop, donor would not be delivering the
Fig. 6. updates on a. donor screen b. helper screen
donation. When the receiver clicks on accept, he/she
is given two options, either to go pick up by The helper (as shown in figure 7.a) can accept
themselves or request help from volunteers. Donor multiple requests on his way. The receiver (as shown
Is informed as well User clicks on ‘request help’, the in figure 7.b) when they receive the donation
server instantly notifies all the helpers in the successfully, is expected to notify us by tapping on
vicinity.

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delivered button. The donation as soon as it is TABLE 1 Comparison with existing Solutions
delivered, is posted on ‘around me’ (figure 8 a) page,
Model Operation Details
so others can appreciate their efforts. This page
enables social engagement and serves as an Restaurant owners There could be The Delivery
offering free food food leftovers at agents get paid for
encouragement to fellow donors. through Food restaurants, their service as
delivery owners can put they do it for
Geo tagging to mark Hunger spots applications free food donation living. But the
ads and the current
delivery agents application invites
Any helper can mark a location as a hunger-spot if collect food from any person in the
there is a need (of help) in that particular location assigned surrounding to
(on map). This will ideally help people to donate restaurant and volunteer for
delivers it to the delivery.
small scale house-hold left-overs to needy people intended receiver.
near them.
Food donation There are several Such donations
Campaigns food donation are kind and
The data collected can be used for variety of analysis campaigns generous is
tasks, for example, to figure out locations with most happening across definitely any
the country. human’s duty, but
people living under poverty. This data could help Volunteers cook they do not utilize
redirect available services to the locations which food and leftover food,
needs it the most. distribute to the which is primary
needy people. focus of the
discussed
application.
Organizations Collecting funds Again, their focus
working for from interested is on feeding poor,
charity donors and while the current
redirecting funds application’s
to feed the poor. focus is on food
leftover
management.

VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

A restaurant owner or any person can register
himself as a helper (either donor or volunteer), while
the organizations willing to get food donations from
the application, will register themselves as a receiver
It is obvious that mobile phones have exerted a huge
impact on society, and continue to do so to this day.
The access to smart phones makes the lives of many
Fig. 7. a. Helper screen, b. Receiver screen easier and convenient.
Smart phones allow users to exchange any
information they may need or want, whenever they
want. Other applications, like Google Maps,
function similarly by offering information within a
moment's notice, such as travel directions and
updates on traffic.
Mobile applications can be used to direct the food
left over in both large scale and small scale to those
who are actually in need. The users can register
themselves as donors and receivers. The donors can
post about the excess food they have, which reaches
all the eligible receivers through the mobile
application. The application runs on effective
algorithm which manages the receivers based on
their location and need of food.
After this sorting, filtering and notifying, the
receivers can show their interest in receiving food
wherein either donor or receiver can afford
themselves for transportation. If both of them are not
Fig. 8. a. around me page, b. hunger spots markings able to transport, another user who is willing to help
can help them out. This approach of projecting the

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leftover food to those who are actually in need can Management, Department of Water-Atmosphere-
make a big difference in food being wasted. Environment, BOKU – University of Natural Resources and
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application’s front-end, and firebase to support the [4] Randy Bell, reducing food waste has economic,
backend operations such as storing the data, environmental and social benefits. Michigan State
authenticating users, deploying cloud functions. University Extension - March 27, 2012
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methods which register their interest in data and gets [6] Ishwar gupta, check if a point exists in ellipse, Blog on Geeks
triggered upon the change in data. This functions for geeks, India, 2021
allow us to deliver notifications to qualified
[7] Press trust of India, India wasted over 68 Million Tons of
recipients as and when data is updated. Food In 2019: UN Report, 2021
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the city, distance between participants and food Sahasrabudhe , and Ryan O’Neil ), The Meal delivery
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contact between the participants. [9] Kara Yu, Peter Friese, Accelerate your app development
with firebase extensions, firebase blog, 2021
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the organizations require us to manually verify the DonateInKind blog, 2021
details provided. Despite of all the automation done
[11] H.S. Sethu & Bhavya Saini, “Customer Perception and
in notifying users, being able to check whether food Satisfaction on Ordering Food via Internet, a Case on
is in consumable state, is a primary responsibility of Foodzoned.Com, in Manipal”, Proceedings of the Seventh
any user. And It is believed that donors are kind Asia-Pacific Conference on Global Business, Economics,
enough to assure that. After all the application’s Finance and Social Sciences (AP16Malaysia Conference)
ISBN: 978-1-943579-81-5, Paper ID: KL631, 2016.
usage runs on trust.
[12] Serhat Murat Alagoz & Haluk Hekimoglu , “A study on
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from respective stakeholders. It is authors’ hope that “Digital Food Delivery Apps Revolutionizing Food
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their generous donations.
[14] Buxbaum, Otto, “Key Insights into Basic Mechanisms of
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