Grocery and retail have a unique influence on food waste management. As some of the centres of the agricultural supply chain, these industries have a lot of power to change our food waste habits.

Tackling Food Waste in Grocery & Retail

Supermarkets create 43 billion lbs of food waste every year.^* Unfortunately, much of this food waste is actually edible for human consumption and typically gets thrown out due to unrealistic beauty standards, overstocking or foods getting close to the sell-by date.^* As of 2022, only 6 States in the U.S. have laws that encourage grocery store food donation, though none have regulations against it.^*

Many supermarkets and grocery stores have started to sell ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables, while others have removed unnecessary ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ labels.^* When food surplus is safe and suitable for human consumption, the preferred destination is to make it available to people in need.

Reduce Food Waste with the ORCA

Supermarkets and grocery stores need accurate data on food waste to be able to generate a successful reduction plan. The ORCA records the food waste disposed of into it, allowing you to break it down by food type to identify reduction opportunities.

Once you have reduced waste by eliminating excessive beauty standards and sending surplus to people in need, the remaining waste is broken down by the ORCA in less than 24 hours before being further recycled at wastewater treatment plants, where the nutrients are extracted to create renewable biogas or used for land application.

Talk to our food waste experts today to learn how you can save costs and reduce your environmental impact with ORCA.