COPENHAGEN — WeFood, the world’s first food waste supermarket chain accessible to all citizens is planning on expanding the innovative concept throughout Denmark with the opening of two additional stores.
Currently established in Copenhagen, WeFood first opened its doors in February in an effort to combat food waste in Denmark. Since then, the supermarket chain has quickly established a reputable reputation.
Specifically created to reduce food waste in Denmark through an initiative by the government, the store acquires donated goods from contributing suppliers, including fellow Danish supermarket chain Føtex, and sells the otherwise discarded products at a discount of 30-50 percent.
So far, the market’s pioneering model has assisted in attaining 40 tons of unwanted and unused goods, a significant initial step in effectively tackling the estimated 700,000 tons of food wasted in the country annually.
Additionally, supermarkets focused on selling discarded food products at discounted prices could potentially reduce this considerable figure on a global scale, where approximately one-third (approximately 1.3 billion tons) of all food produced for human consumption is unfortunately lost or wasted per year.
Europe and North America are the major regions that waste the most food each year. In the U.S. alone, roughly 25-40 percent of all food grown, processed and transported in America will never be consumed. This concept could greatly benefit these particular regions and the inhabitants who desperately need additional food.
The two new stores are planned to open in Copenhagen and Arhus, the two major cities in the country. The market hopes to continue eliminating food waste and making unwanted portions more available for consumption in its established locations.
In the future, WeFood hopes to eventually open a substantially large number of stores run exclusively by volunteers. This ground-breaking initiative is helping Denmark in the fight against the unnecessary wasting of food portions, and soon, could be leading the fight around the world.
– Jordan J. Phelan
Photo: Flickr