Meijer understands the importance of reducing food waste and has a multi-level approach to minimization.
First, Meijer seeks to keep food waste from occurring in the first place through more precise ordering, proper handling, among other measures. Food rescue plays an important role in our hunger relief efforts. Meijer partners with numerous food banks in the communities we serve that work tirelessly each day to get perfectly good food that goes unsold in our stores into the hands of people who need it through our food rescue program.
The reality is that we cannot prevent all food waste, but we can make sure it doesn’t go to waste.
Just like in your home, we have food scraps that are created by cutting up fresh produce. We also have produce that becomes damaged during shipment and other foods that don’t meet our high quality standards. Our stores keep most of that food waste [food scraps and damaged food] out of the landfill by recycling it into animal feed or compost to nourish local soils. Our distribution centers and manufacturing facilities all have programs to divert food waste from the landfill to better uses that reduce carbon emissions and have other environmental benefits.
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One such program in our stores is Flashfood. We launched the app-based pilot program in November 2019 at a handful of Meijer supercenters in Metro Detroit. The program is now available in most Meijer stores across our footprint. Customers can find participating locations near them using the Flashfood app.
Additionally, as part of our commitment to reducing food waste, Meijer set a goal to achieve 50 percent store food waste diversion from landfill by 2030. As we advance the programs and partnerships in place, we will track and report our progress.