Reducing food waste has a substantial positive environmental impact

Food waste – that is, food or raw materials ending up as waste – is an ecological and economic problem. The annual food waste of the Finnish food chain as a whole is estimated to be 400 to 500 million kg. Food causes around one-third of the environmental impact generated by households.

Reducing food waste is an important way to decrease the environmental impact of the food product chain. The environmental impact of food waste is markedly more significant than that of packaging production and waste management, for example. Freezing large amounts at a time and carefully maintaining the cold chain also make the food product chain more efficient and reduce waste.

Reducing waste in production is a part of Apetit’s focus on continuous improvement of efficiency. Careful planning of production and development of sales forecasts play an important role in reducing waste.

Apetit co-operates with WeFood to cut down its food waste

Apetit and the WeFood shop for food waste run by Finn Church Aid are now working together and Apetit supplies fresh products that would otherwise become waste to WeFood.

The Apetit products supplied to WeFood include various vegetable and salad mixes near their best before date or with errors on their packaging or that do not meet all quality criteria. The proceeds of WeFood are used for Finn Church Aid’s development aid.

Apetit also finds new possibilities to reduce food waste with other food industry actors in Urban Food project, which aims to get surplus raw materials from food industry to the dining tables. Apetit also cooperates in Yhteinen Pöytä to reduce food waste.