In Denmark, one of the most common methods of curbing food wastage is reselling expired products. Albeit unusual, this has proven very effective. A grocery store that mainly sells such expired food products has made headlines as it accomplishes success and opens a new branch to cater to its fast-growing customers!
The Danish grocery store is called Wefood; it is located in Copenhagen, but now it boasts of a new branch in the district of Nørrebro. Wefood is staffed by volunteers with all earned profits donated to charity.
Despite their good work, many may question the ethics behind selling expired food items. However, the store's operation is backed by Denmark laws, which states that expired goods can be sold as long as they pose no damage to human health and are advertised openly.
As regards this, Wefood's project leader, Bassel Hmeidan, asserts that every product sold is first examined to ascertain safety.
"We look, we smell, we feel the product and see if it's still consumable", he said.
Local supermarkets and food industries generally donate expired goods to Wefood where they are sold at a discount of about 30 to 50 percent discount.
The DanChurchAid, an organization that primarily aims at eradicating poverty, runs Wefood. Conquering hunger is one of the organization's primary initiatives, and they found that one smart way to do that is to optimize wasted food.
Wefood therefore, mainly generates profits for the organization. They state that the money is used for "emergency aid and social protection schemes as well as projects promoting agro-ecological production".
While doing this, they secondarily tackle climate change as the reduction in food wastage leads to a subsequent decrease in greenhouse gases released into the earth's atmosphere.
Overall, the Wefood store is not your typical grocery store, but its operations come with many benefits, so why not?!
Image credits: Wefood Nørrebro