Sustainability Initiative Helps Meijer Divert Food Waste
Meijer's Flashfood sustainability effort has helped customers redirect over 1 million pounds of potentially wasted food. Customers have purchased more than 1 million pounds of food nearing its sell-by date at a discount since the program's extension across the Meijer territory in 2021, sparing it from potentially ending up in landfills.
In November 2019, Meijer launched Flashfood as a prototype programme at a few of its supercenters in Metro Detroit. Meijer expanded the product to all of its locations in 2021 after lowering in-store food waste by 10%. Flashfood is currently available at 255 Meijer supercenters.
Flashfood is a startup located in Canada that allows retailers to submit surplus close-dated supermarket items to an app for purchase. Customers may access the app, choose a Meijer shop, select things to buy, and pay for them all through the app. They can then go to the store to pick up their purchases and have customer service validate their order.
According to RTS, the United States discards approximately 40 million tonnes of food each year, which is "considered to constitute 30 per cent to 40% of the whole US food supply." That is allegedly due to food not being consumed or purchased before its expiration date. According to Smart Sense, supermarkets lose $15 billion a year due to waste, a figure that might be considerably reduced if initiatives like Flashfood were implemented.
California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont are among the states that have approved legislation to reduce food waste. Food waste generators, such as supermarkets and food processors, must transfer their trash to an organics processing facility in Connecticut.
Certain businesses and institutions in Rhode Island are required by law to divert organic waste to designated composting sites. The required commercial recycling law in California mandates that some firms subscribe to organic waste recycling services.
Source: Environment + Energy Leader
