Global retailer Ahold Delhaize has announced that it is extending its commitment to cutting food waste in its brands’ operations, in line with the global goal of reducing food waste by 50 per cent by 2030.
It will also initiate partnerships with its suppliers to further reduce food waste, with the new target further building on the retailer's 2016 commitment to reduce food waste by 20 per cent by 2020.
Supporting this commitment, Ahold Delhaize has joined the World Resources Institute’s ‘10x20x30’ initiative, which brings together ten global food retailers that will each engage with 20 of their priority suppliers to halve their rates of food loss and waste by 2030.
Ahold Delhaize is a founding partner of the initiative, which was launched today (25 September) during Climate Week in New York.
“Reducing food waste in our stores and distribution chain is the right thing for our business, for the climate, and for improving food security,' said Frans Muller, president and CEO of Ahold Delhaize. 'We are join this exciting initiative to support momentum across our industry and create new innovations for reducing waste in partnership with suppliers.'
Food waste reduction is seen as a key component of the retailer's Leading Together strategy as it works towards a healthy and sustainable future.
Ahold Delhaize brands across the US and Europe have implemented many changes in the past years to reduce food waste, such as improving technology for store ordering and developing partnerships with local communities to donate unsold food to people in need.
With the new target, the retailer said it was committing to accelerating partnerships and innovations - in areas such as packaging, discounting, fresh quality analysis, and smarter logistics.
“Wasting less food is critical to conserving natural resources and improving food security,” said Megan Hellstedt, vice-president sustainable retailing. “We have identified improvements to make in our own operations for the coming years and will ask our key suppliers to do the same.”
