Lidl Spain has introduced an anti-waste bag comprised of fruit and vegetables that do not meet aesthetic standards, but which are suitable for consumption.
Priced at €3, the bag includes goods with packaging that has suffered cosmetic damage, i.e. without damaging the quality of the product.
The initiative was tested in the 30+ stores of the German discounter in the Canary Islands, preventing the wastage of more than 20,000 kilograms of fruit and vegetables.
Following its success, the chain has now decided to roll out the initiative in the 650+ stores that it operates in Spain.
Michaela Reischl, director of CSR of Lidl Spain, stated, “Reducing food waste is one of our priorities, in terms of sustainability. We are firmly committed to prevention, planning and managing our assortment efficiently, to minimise the stock of surplus products.
“The launch of the anti-waste bag is one more measure that aims to encourage the purchase of fruits and vegetables that are still suitable for consumption. After the success of the Canary Islands pilot, I am convinced that our clients in the rest of the country will also welcome this initiative very positively.”
Food Waste Prevention
Lidl has also been conducting trials of other measures to reduce food waste in the Canary Islands, which have also now been rolled out across the network.
It is also progressively implementing a 50% discount on day-old bread, as well as a 30% discount on cookies, pasta, canned goods and frozen products, which, until now, were not discounted when they were close to their best-before dates.
The retailer has introduced an additional 20% discount on the last day of expiration for fresh items – such as meat, fish, yoghurts, cheeses or salads – on top of an existing 30% discount implemented when the products were close to their expiration or best-before dates.
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These new measures are on top of the many initiatives that the chain has been carrying out for years, in its commitment to reduce food waste by 30% by 2025 and 50% by 2030.
To this end, Lidl efficiently plans and manages the assortment with optimised and adjusted orders, donates food to various local NGOs (over 2.7 million kilograms last year) or transforms products into flour for animal feed, managing to avoid the waste of about 4,900 tonnes of food per year.
All these initiatives have helped Lidl to become the first supermarket to achieve Bureau Veritas certification for the management system to minimise food waste (SG-MDA) in all its stores and logistics centres in Spain, the discounter added.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest fresh-produce news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
