Flash Green

FlashGreen is a social enterprise that was co-founded by our Lingnan entrepreneur, Ms. Hazel Zou Shiqi with her teammates Mr. Ken Chan and Mr. Anson Ting from the HKUST. The social enterprise focuses on recycling residual stock of short-dated best-before date products and redistributing them to people from different subgroups through vending machines and the companion mobile app. Through the integration of technology and sustainability, FlashGreen is fostering a smart and sustainable campus and office culture dedicated to reducing unnecessary food waste through debunking the misconception of best-before date and promoting responsible consumption behaviors. New features like product reservation, automated price adjusting, and auto-discount functions are added to the traditional retail model of vending machines through IoT and real-time telemetry technologies. The team just won the Hong Kong Techathon 2022 Second Runner-up in the theme of Smart City and Sustainability.  With the support from their academic advisor, Prof. Mark McGinley, the team will continue to develop new machines and put them in different housing areas in Hong Kong to benefit the community in need. 

The Issue

Essentially the current marketing strategy of best-before date products is to make consumers eat a product within a period of time that it tastes best and throw it away after that because the taste may not be the best. The reason why many customers are doing this is they believe the product will not be safe to eat after the best-before date. The mere existence of this market means their strategy for production and turnover is unsustainable since the companies label the expiration date based on flavor over food safety.

The Solution

Flash Green will be selling their products through vending machines since it will drastically lower the rental cost and increase the mobility and possibility of these products being seen and noticed by consumers. The outer skin of the vending machine can also be used to advertise and educate the best-before concept. They sell products that mainly consist of dry food such as seaweed, nuts, chips, and dried vegetables. These products provide an enjoyable gourmet experience with certain nutritional values. In order to make their product more accessible to their target households, they will lower the price to at least half of its original price.

Impact

First of all, Flash Green expects to raise public awareness of the nature of the best-before day. In the process of engaging with them and purchasing the products, their customer should learn that the best-before date is based on the quality of flavor, not food safety. By doing that, they expect customers to not only purchase from retailers like them but also keep eating products that have passed the best-before date as long as they don’t show signs of deterioration. Second, they expect the retailers and producers to reflect on the emerging market of surplus food. The mere existence of this market means their strategy for production and turnover is unsustainable. Companies should start to question whether expiration date labels based on flavor over food safety are a responsible act. Third, they want their target households and students to enjoy better quality dry food products and snacks for more affordable prices.

Beneficiaries

Household living in public housing estates in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long District

Project Team

ZOU Shiqi (Hazel)

YIP Ka Yu (Candice)

CHAN Chun Kin (Ken)

TING Kai Chong (Anson)

CAI Yunsheng (Richard)

Lee Cheung Yu (Richard)

Advisor: Prof. Mark McGinley, Head of Science Unit

Award

Silver Award of HKSTP Technopreneur Award

Funding Source

Innovation and Impact Fund 2020 - 2021

Project Classification

SDGs of responsible consumption and production / Food vending machines / Food labelling