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. Fortunately, our stores keep that 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. After the global pandemic caused delays in rolling out Flashfood to all our stores across the Midwest in 2020, we’re on track to complete implementation of it this year. We launched the app-based pilot program in November 2019 at a handful of Meijer supercenters in Metro Detroit. After reducing in-store food waste by 10 percent, we decided to expand the offering to all our stores.
Additionally, as part of our commitment to reducing food waste, Meijer joined the Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions program by pledging to reduce food waste per store by 50 percent by 2030, compared to a 2018 baseline. This aligns with goals set by the United Nations regarding sustainable development.