Cape Town - An estimated 10 million tons of food go to waste in South Africa each year. However, the Shoprite group has measures to solve this problem through systematic and comprehensive planning.
According to statistics from the Worldwide Fund for Nature, every person in South Africa wastes an estimated 210kg of food. Most food loss occurs before the food even reaches the fridge.
Food waste not only affects livelihoods, it has economic and environmental consequences, namely on water and energy use.
Locally harvested food production equates to 62% of the country’s freshwater usage, while energy and power consumption has an impact that starts with production, then moves through manufacturing and consumption.
Shoprite’s measures include waste prevention, artificial intelligence, food donations, and the creation of circular economies with waste products.
The group’s Sustainability manager, Sanjeev Raghubir, said Shoprite wanted to prevent food wastage before it had a chance to start.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning helps predict sales of certain items and having replenishment orders on hand, he said. Replenishment orders are placed automatically to ensure stock is always available for customers while simultaneously reducing food waste.
Shoprite donates more than 120 000 meals to more than 450 charities to fight hunger and address food security. In the past year, it donated surplus food valued at R138 million. It also facilitates the donation of surplus fruit and vegetables directly from farms to charities.
Shoprite sends about 44 tons of food waste, mainly dried goods such as pasta, cereals and flour, to be converted to animal feed, while excess cooking oil and organic waste have also been converted for use as biodiesel and compost.
The Shoprite Group is closely aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, including the target to halve food waste at retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along the food chain by 2030 - a goal it is on track to achieve.