Zero Waste

(continued from Page 1 – zero waste – what food waste costs YOU)

José Alvarez, the former CEO of Stop and Shop / Giant Landover, says the concept of supermarkets saying that if waste is low there’s a problem, is simply not true.

He reduced waste across his 550 stores, kept his customers happy, and saved $100 million each year in the process  (all because of bread pudding).

“People have it drilled into their brains that they need to have large, overflowing displays of perishable products,” says Alvarez, now a lecturer at Harvard Business School. “We know there’s waste, but everyone’s afraid to reduce it because the thinking is that you’re going to reduce your ability to sell product.”

The Story

While at Stop and Shop, Alvarez discovered a big problem.  Surveys showed that customers weren’t happy with the produce in his stores.

He felt the store was doing the right things – buying top-notch produce and maintaining the cold chain.  But people thought their produce wasn’t fresh.

So he investigated the problem.  He realized that their policy of displaying 2-4 days’ worth of product on the shelf at any given time meant that customers saw an abundance of produce, but it wasn’t always fresh.

He made changes.  For example, they

• Displayed 4 salmon fillets instead of 10 at the fish counter
• Put 8 avocados in the produce aisle instead of 24, stacked in a shallow basket with a dummy layer to give the illusion of depth.

This involved more labour to refill the displays, but was offset by less work to go through and remove any bad products.

And he made other changes – for example, offering field tomatoes either loose or in 6-packs, as opposed to loose, 3-packs, 6-packs, and 8-packs.  Reducing the pack sizes reduced waste too.

Result!

Within a few months, customer satisfaction had improved, sales numbers were up, and store waste was dramatically reduced.

The changes saved the chain $100 million a year, a saving which they passed on to consumers by lowering prices.

Learning About Zero Waste

One of the things I really like about this example is that these changes weren’t based on some fancy new theory.  It was all about common business sense.  Alvarez learnt about zero waste while he was growing up.

“My father was a baker in Chicago, he had his own business,” he recalls. “It was pretty strongly inculcated in me that you couldn’t afford for stuff to go to waste. If you had stale bread you made bread pudding. You found ways to make money and satisfy customers by not wasting. If you don’t do that, you don’t survive as a business.  We need to address these issues as an industry and as a society.”

I find this such an inspiring example!

What About Elsewhere?

Food waste is also a problem in the U.K.   So they launched a program at the beginning of 2012 aimed at cutting their food waste by 50 percent. The program combines education, better labelling, and supporting companies that are doing their part to reduce waste.

“If you had stale bread you made bread pudding”

They suggest:

1. Plan your meals for the week, and then buy only what you plan to cook.

2. Make a shopping list, and stick to it.  (Don’t shop while you’re hungry)

3. Check your cupboards before you go to the store, to avoid buying doubles.

4. Understand that for many products, the “best before” dates are simply manufacturer recommendations for peak quality, and are not an indicator of food safety.  Trust your nose and common sense.  Click on the link for a cool video on expiry dates – what you need to know 

5. Compost. If you do have food that spoils, don’t throw it in the rubbish! Compost it instead and transform your waste into precious food for your plants..

Simply by following these guidelines, households in the UK were able to trim their food waste 18 percent. (

You can find more food-saving tips from NRDC’s fact sheet.

(And remember bread pudding!)