Germany's Kaufland is taking a stand against food waste and has confirmed its participation in the national dialogue forum for wholesalers and retailers to reduce food waste.
German consumers waste over 12 million tonnes of food every year, with grocery trade accounting for 4% of this loss.
Although it is a small share of the total volume, the retailer added there is still potential for optimisation.
The dialogue forum is part of the federal government's national strategy to reduce food waste.
Limiting Food Waste
Kaufland has been working for many years to limit food waste across its operations to a minimum.
By participating in the dialogue forum, the retailer is making it clear that it wishes to build on the successes it has achieved so far and that it is constantly making an effort to reduce food waste.
Changes made by the chain to prevent food waste include optimisation of the scheduling system, such as data quality, forecasts, and external influencing factors.
It focused on timely price reduction in all product areas depending on the best-before date for store-specific stocks, customer frequency, and store opening times.
The chain also partnered with 'Too Good To Go' to combat food waste.
Voluntary Pledge
Companies participating in the dialogue forum voluntarily pledge to implement specific measures to reduce food waste.
In line with the national strategy for reducing food waste, the trade forum is about implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development SDG 12.3 for the trade sector.
In addition, it is also about the tangible reduction of food waste in the company, at the interfaces to the suppliers, and in the food distribution network.
By the summer of 2022, the companies participating in the forum will work out a target agreement to halve food waste by 2030.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Conor Farrelly. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
