Food waste is a serious issue facing our country that not everyone may be familiar with. According to the USDA, roughly 30-40% of the national food supply is wasted annually, which equates to nearly 133 billion pounds of food with a value of $161 billion. Yet in 2023, over 18 million households experienced food insecurity.

To help combat food waste and improve food accessibility, a team of three recent Illinois high school graduates from Plainfield North High School — Nicholas Powell, Hubert Stasik and Tharun Veeraiah, collectively known as Team Expiri — presented at the prestigious INCubatoredu National Pitch Competition held in Chicago in July.

Team Expiri presented their innovative food expiration tracking mobile app, Expiri, to a national audience and secured a spot among the top 30 student startup teams.

Annually, INCubatoredu teams from across the globe submit to compete at the National Pitch event for an opportunity to get funding for their innovative ideas. Since its inception, more than $172,000 has been awarded to students by investors.

The app, which the team has plans for availability on both the Google and Apple app stores in the near future, uses barcode scanning to track food expiration dates, suggest recipes based on ingredients, provide information on donation options to help reduce food waste and send alerts before items spoil.

Formed through Plainfield District 202's INCubator program, Team Expiri is optimistic to see the app in the app store soon. Illinois encourages innovation at every education level, and this team of recent high school graduates exemplifies the strong, hardworking skills that many Illinoisans have. With the program in Plainfield now entering its second year at all four of the school district’s high schools, these teens have lit a path for more innovation and craftsmanship to come from our state.