LAURA LING: These trucks, filled with 14 tons
of perfectly good food, would have normally gone
straight to the dump.
But this time, they didn't.
KOMAL AHMAD: We partnered with Super Bowl 50 and the NFL.
We recovered 14 tons of food.
And to put that in perspective, that's
four 16-foot refrigerated trucks filled to their absolute brim
with high quality food that fed over 23,000 people in just two
days.
LAURA LING: At just 22 years old,
Komal Ahmad set out to create an app
called Copia, which connects businesses with excess food
to communities in need.
KOMAL AHMAD: Just as easily as you
can use your phone to swipe right or request an Uber,
you could use that same piece of technology
and know for 100% fact that that food is actually
going to be consumed by people who are in need.
Copia operates in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Businesses sign up with the app, and within minutes
of a request, Copia will be there to take perishable food
to people in need.
It can range from stadiums, arenas, grocery stores,
catering companies, anyone with surplus, large volume of food.
Will pick it up.
We will provide data and analytics
on how to reduce that waste in the future.
And we will also directly connect it
to the nonprofits that are in need at that day at that time
and can use that exact quantity of food.
LAURA LING: Copia's drivers, called food heroes,
transport and distribute the food
to nonprofits around the city.
On any given day, how much food would you say you're saving?
And how many people are benefiting?
KOMAL AHMAD: On a weekly basis, we are feeding well
over 10,000 people a week.
LAURA LING: So there's brown rice, broccoli, spare ribs,
mushrooms, romaine salad.
There is a lot of food here.
And this is just from one company.
It's crazy to think that this all might have gone
into the trash, been dumped.
But not today, because this is going
to be delivered to about three different organizations
to people who are hungry, who could really benefit from it.
Copia is just one of countless groups
trying to eliminate food waste.
But technology could be the much needed component
to accelerate the movement.
It is astounding to me knowing that over 133 billion pounds
of food goes to waste every year.
Do you think hunger can be eliminated?
KOMAL AHMAD: Absolutely.
Hunger in America is definitely not an issue of scarcity.
It's an issue of logistics.
We waste three times as much food
as there are mouths to feed.
LAURA LING: Copia charges businesses a small fee
per pound of donated food.
In turn, companies can claim a tax deductible right off.
Komal hopes that this will be an incentive for more companies
to get involved.
Copia is a for profit entity.
Why did you decide to structure it that way, as opposed
to a nonprofit?
KOMAL AHMAD: We decided to be for profit for scale.
We want to solve this problem.
And we think it's a better use of resources.
Instead of just trying to do it small scale
in specific communities, we've received over 60,000 requests
for global expansion.
So from senior government officials
in Germany and Austria who say, we want this technology,
we want to help you expand, to help
redistribute food and other resources
to the Syrian migrants.
And that's just one really exciting case.
LAURA LING: How has technology been a game changer?
LAURA LING: I think by and large,
for the first time in human history,
we can solve some of the world's largest problems.
And with technology, it's better and faster than ever before.
We're moving perishable food, and we're
trying to move it as quickly and as safely as possible.
So that's where technology really helps
to connect the moving pieces.
LAURA LING: On another episode of "Seeker--"
INTERVIEWER: Not that long ago, environmentalism
was a fairly bipartisan issue.
But all that changed.
And it might be because of this guy and this guy.