Bringing Down Food Waste while Helping Food Insecure Families
Together with the two NGOs, Stop Wasting Food and Danish People’s Aid, the retail chain, REMA 1000, delivers food to those in need every year on the 23rd of December. The annual Christmas Aid in December 2023 had 21,544 applications from Danish families. The project not only helps the families but also cuts down on food waste from the supermarket chain.
Food waste is a global issue that calls for solutions from several actors in the global private sector: 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year while almost 1 billion people go undernourished and another 1 billion hungry. Over recent years, supermarkets have started to tackle the issue and now offer foods that are close to the expiration date at a lower price and have begun a system that can register food that is to be tossed into the bin so it instead can be offered to the homeless. In Denmark, the annual Christmas Aid is part of a broader plan from several supermarkets of the Danish food cluster to bring down food waste
An Outstretched Hand to Families in Need
In Denmark, several food insecure families apply for the annual Christmas Aid. The aid consists of traditional Christmas foods, wine and presents for the children. In the first year of the project, 2015, 2,000 people were helped. In 2016, 10,000 people received the aid and in 2023, 23.946 people received the aid. In total, REMA 1000 gave food worth of 12 million Danish crowns.
Together with the organisations, Stop Wasting Food and Danish People’s Aid and the retail chain, Rema 1000, the unsold Christmas food from the supermarket on December 23rd continues to be donated to families in need. In total, the project symbolises the efforts of the Danish food cluster to bring down food waste while contributing to a strong local community.
