A new app's being launched to try reduce the 50,000 tonnes of food waste thrown out in New Zealand each year.

The Foodprint app allows consumers to purchase surplus food from Central Auckland eateries otherwise destined for the trash at a reduced cost.

Founder Michal Garvey told Francesca Rudkin it's about keeping good food out of the landfill.

"I've always been a big proponent in not wasting food. It's really damaging to the environment when we are wasting food because food rots in landfill and emits methane."

The app is currently based around Central Auckland, but Garvey hopes to expand. 

How Foodprint works is that the eateries that have signed up can put food that has not been sold during the day on the app, and consumers have until the store closes that day to purchase it for a discount. 

Garvey says that the eateries that have signed up have been great to work with. 

"Eateries want to make sure that the cabinets fill with food when they walk in, but they don't know if they will have a slow day, so to have a back-up is really great for them."

She calls it a 'practical, easy to use' solution to reduce food waste. Garvey says that a number of similar apps in Europe that appear to have worked well.