Auchan Retail Portugal has launched a new initiative for the festive season, as part of its ongoing strategy to reduce food waste.
The Birdbox is a package consisting of three airtight boxes suitable for storing food leftovers during the Christmas period.
With this action, the retailer wants to encourage consumers to save and share uneaten food with family, friends and even work colleagues, while at the same time making them aware of the need to fight together against food waste over the course of the year.
Produced in Portugal, the Birdbox uses BPA-free plastic and is on sale in Auchan Portugal stores, priced at €4.99.
A portion (€1.50) of the sale of each box is donated to the Portuguese Red Cross, which will offer meals to those who need them most.
Digital Guide To Tackling Waste
The Birdbox also includes a digital guide with tips and recipes to help Portuguese consumers fight waste in their homes.
In Portugal alone, around one million tonnes of food goes to waste every year, which corresponds to 50,000 meals a day, while more than 30% of food waste happens at home.
Within the scope of its 'Zero Waste' strategy, Auchan Portugal encourages customers to buy only the quantities they need, as well as offering discounts on products approaching their expiry date or whose aesthetic characteristics are not up to standard.
Auchan also promotes the circular economy, by selling vegan banana cake (made from overripe bananas) and through the Bread for Cooking project, which transforms old bread into breadcrumbs.
The retailer also operates partnerships with a number of companies and associations, including Zero Desperdício and Too Good To Go, to direct its surplus food to those who need it most and save meals from being thrown away.
Auchan Portugal recently announced it was to commence selling insect-based snacks, as part of a project examining future food trends. It has also expanded its click-and-collect services in recent months.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
