Denmark has opened a food waste supermarket that has shown a huge success with items of cut-price surplus produce. It is one of the first of its kind in the whole of Europe and its opening day was a great success as sales surpassed expectations.
WeFood is a food waste supermarket, the first of its kind in the Scandinavian capital Copenhagen. The supermarket sells at products priced 30-50% cheaper than your local supermarket, the produce they sell is past its sell by date but is still perfectly edible.
WeFood differentiates itself from other social supermarkets, targeting not only low income shoppers but also anyone who is concerned about the amount of food waste produced. The spokesman for Folkekirkens Nodhjaelp who is the NGO behind the idea said that this is a fantastic idea and goes to show that people want to buy this type of produce. He also said that many people see this as a positive and politically correct way to fight against food waste in Denmark.
As the first store was a huge success, the store now hopes to build on the success with more suppliers to keep shelves fully stocked going forward, mainly because the shelves were emptied by closing time on day one!. The supermarket aims to reduce the 700,000 tonnes of food waste produced by Denmark each year.
Eva Kjer Hansen, the Danish Minister for Food and the Environment, said that “It’s ridiculous that food is just thrown out or goes to waste and “It is bad for the environment and it is money spent on absolutely nothing.”
“A supermarket like WeFood makes so much sense and is an important step in the battle to combat food waste.”