Recup is a Milan association that collects unsold food from the city's street markets at closing time and redistributes it to people in need, turning what loses economic value into social value. In 2021 WWG developed the app Recup uses to coordinate volunteers, market stalls and collection points, and the project was covered by dozens of national and local outlets, from Sky TG24 to la Repubblica. This page, published in July 2021, collects that press coverage; in 2026 we updated it with a summary of the project, a link to the case study and the context it belongs to.
TL;DR
- Recup recovers unsold food from Milan's street markets and redistributes it to the community; WWG, an Italian software house, became its digital partner with a new app.
- The app coordinates volunteers in the field, shows which stalls take part and where the recovered food goes, extending the association's presence across the city's markets.
- The May 2021 press release was picked up by more than forty outlets, including Sky TG24, la Repubblica, AdnKronos, Libero and Dissapore.
- The project is one of the examples of WWG's social commitment, formalised in 2023 when the company became a benefit corporation.
What does the Recup app built by WWG do?
The app coordinates the association's work in the field: volunteers see markets and shifts, the stalls that take part, the points where recovered food is delivered and the area coordinators, so that collection at the end of a market no longer depends on messages and phone calls. For an organisation run by volunteers, less time spent coordinating means being present in more markets.
The 2021 press release summed it up: what loses economic value can regain social value, and Recup found in WWG the digital partner that would extend its presence among Milan's market stalls. The project is described in detail in the WWG and Recup case study, with the design choices and the features released.
Why did WWG work with an association against food waste?
Because the software WWG knows how to build, a mobile app with simple logistics behind it, was exactly what an organisation with measurable impact and few resources was missing, and because putting people at the centre is the principle the company starts from in commercial projects too. Household and supply-chain food waste, the release recalled citing a Barilla Foundation study, is a deep-rooted problem that needs a turning point.
The Recup project is part of a path that runs from the donations of 2020 to projects with schools and with Politecnico di Milano, and that in 2023 became a statutory commitment when WWG became a benefit corporation. If you have a similar project, our mobile app development page explains how we work.
Do you have a project with a social purpose that needs an app? Talk to a WWG engineer at business@wwg.it.
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FAQ
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A Milan association that, at the end of each market day, recovers unsold food from the stalls of the city's street markets and redistributes it to people in need, with the help of volunteers. It reduces food waste and creates moments of encounter between different people in the city. Since 2021 it has used an app developed by WWG to coordinate its activities.
It designed and developed the app that coordinates volunteers, markets, participating stalls and delivery points for the recovered food, allowing the association to be present in more markets with the same coordination effort. The project, announced in May 2021, is described in the case study on WWG's website.
The May 2021 press release was picked up by more than forty national and local outlets, including Sky TG24, la Repubblica, AdnKronos, Libero, ioDonna, Economy, Dissapore and MiTomorrow. The full list, with links to the articles or to archived copies, is at the bottom of this page.
