A few weeks back, we explored the various pollutive aspects of food waste stemming from consumerism, and what we can do as consumers. But did you know that these ground-up efforts have the potential to blossom into a successful nationwide movement? For better illustration of these successes, let’s set our sights on Denmark and their community initiatives in alleviating the pressing issue of food waste.

Food Waste in Denmark

Food waste has been a perennial problem in Denmark, with reports by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency suggesting that a typical Danish family discards an estimated 304kg of food every year (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2013). Moreover, 168kg of which are still edible food, translating to 42kg of edible food being thrown away by each Dane annually (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2013)! It is thus apparent that households contribute significantly to the production of food waste in the food supply chain (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2013). However, Halloran et al. (2014) posits that although targeted efforts have been made by governments to inspire change in the consumption behaviours of households, consumers can only make purchasing decisions by what is made available to them by the retailer.

More often than not, fruits, vegetables, and other staples sold in Denmark’s supermarkets are prepackaged in large quantities (Gjerris & Gaiani, 2013), which could lead to the subsequent wastage of food by households in the absence of timely consumption. Food wastage trends of the aforementioned produce have demonstrated that it is the fruit, vegetables, bread, and cakes that are typically thrown in the bin in Denmark, with four-person households discarding significant amounts of leftovers (Halloran et al., 2014). Notably, individuals living alone tend to throw out the most perishable foods, and this behaviour has been attributed to their inability to purchase produce sold in small portions (Halloran et al., 2014).

Reviewing packaging sizes through designing better packaging to keep food fresher for longer while accommodating various consumer requirements such as portion size is thus pertinent in reducing food wastage in Denmark.

Community Efforts: Stop Spild Af Mad

Stop Splid Af Mad, otherwise known as ‘Stop Wasting Food’, was first established in 2008 by Selina Juul to change the retailing and consumption patterns that promoted food waste in Denmark (Russell, 2016). Since then, the community has grown to become Denmark’s largest movement against food waste, with over 8,000 members and has achieved great success in its collaboration with the Danish government, neighbouring Nordic countries, the European Union, and the United Nations (Stop Splid Af Mad, n.d.). The mission of the community can be encapsulated by Juul’s statement below (Hell, 2016):

“It is a very bottom-up initiative, [We] mobilize the people, then the people mobilize the industry and the supermarkets, cafeterias and restaurants”.

Fruits of their Labour

For one, the community has managed to convince Rema 100 – the country’s biggest low-cost supermarket chain with over 200 outlets- to replace its large portions of prepackaged food and quantity discounts to single item discounts to minimise food waste for consumers eventually. Quantity discount is seen as one of the reasons behind the food waste originating from private households as it encourages buying more than what is actually needed (Halloran et al., 2014). Moreover, apart from improvements to the packaging, an increasing number of Danish supermarkets have created “stop food waste areas,” with food close to its expiration date at cheaper prices (Halloran et al., 2014).

Within just 5 years of its operations, Stop Splid Af Mad has helped Denmark reduce its food waste by 25% (Rodionova, 2017). To sustain the momentum, the Danish minister for food and the environment created a subsidy pool of US$750,000 in 2017 to assist any projects tackling food waste, from production to consumption (Martiniko, 2018).

My Thoughts: Is it a success?

It definitely is a success for the Danes! It is indeed heartening and inspiring to understand how the ground-up efforts of an individual can catalyse significant changes on a national and international scale. Food wastage is indeed a pressing issue, with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reporting that one third of all food produced is spoiled or squandered (Hell, 2016). Apart from an economic loss of US$940 billion, this wastage also produces 8% of the global greenhouse gas emissions (Hell, 2016). Additionally, discarding food entails that the resource inputs – such as virtual water that we have learnt in Tutorial 4 – will go to waste too! 🙁

However, it is also imperative for us to recognise that solutions are not universal, and thus the successes of Denmark’s programme should not be generalised in other countries. Different political and socioeconomic cultures shape the creation and receptiveness of ground-up initiatives. Moreover, food wastage can be attributed to a myriad of causes, as such, the adopted solutions should be targeted and contextualised to fit the needs of a community and/or country.

That being said, I am a little curious to find out what our little red dot is doing in the face of consumerism. Let’s find out more in our next post ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ see you then!

 

References:

Gjerris, M. & Gaiani, S. (2014). Household food waste in Nordic countries. Estimations and ethical implications. Etikk i praksis. Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics. 7(1), 6-23. Available from: 10.5324/eip.v7i1.1786

Halloran, A., Clement, J., Kornum, N., & Bucatariu, C. (2014). Addressing food waste reduction in Denmark. Food Policy. 49(1), 294-301. Available from: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.09.005

Hell, I. (2016). Denmark leads Europe in tackling food waste. DW Akademie. Available from: https://www.dw.com/en/denmark-leads-europe-in-tackling-food-waste/a-19407250 [Accessed 24 October 2020]

Martinko, K. (2018). Why Is Denmark So Successful At Reducing Food Waste? Treehugger. Available from: https://www.treehugger.com/why-denmark-so-successful-reducing-food-waste-4855687 [Accessed 24 October 2020]

Rodionova, Z. (2017). Denmark reduces food waste by 25% in five years with the help of one woman – Selina Juul. Independent. Available from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/denmark-reduce-food-waste-25-cent-five-years-help-selina-juul-scandanavia-a7604061.html [Accessed 24 October 2020]

Russell, H. (2016). How did Denmark become a leader in the food waste revolution? The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/13/how-did-denmark-become-a-leader-in-the-food-waste-revolution [Accessed 24 October 2020]

Stop Splid Af Mad. (n.d.). About stopping food waste. Available from: https://stopspildafmad.org/ [Accessed 24 October 2020]

Images:

Rodionova, Z. (2017). Denmark reduces food waste by 25% in five years with the help of one woman – Selina Juul. Independent. Available from: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/denmark-reduce-food-waste-25-cent-five-years-help-selina-juul-scandanavia-a7604061.html [Accessed 24 October 2020]