South African retailer Pick n Pay has launched its first zero-waste supermarket pilot in Cape Town in an effort to reduce food waste.
The pilot will test a net-zero waste model by diverting food waste to local farmers, composters or waste-to-energy facilities. The retailer already plans to extend this concept to its distribution centres and hopes to replicate the same model at other stores in the country.
Pick n Pay Stellenbosch Square has partnered with supplier Farmer Angus to divert around 600 kg of food waste per week from landfills. This is expected to save 1,500 kg of carbon emissions weekly, the equivalent of saving 7,000 kilometres of emissions from a standard petrol car.
Steffen Burrows, Sustainability Manager at Pick n Pay said: “Food waste is a significant contributor to carbon emissions. The partnership with Farmer Angus will see the nearby store’s expired food waste diverted from landfills to Farmer Angus' pigs, effectively turning waste into a valuable resource for farmers.”
Pick n Pay will be repurposing organic waste as animal feed to close the loop on waste generation and consumption. Taking the project full circle is that Pick n Pay stocks Farmer Angus products on their shelves.
Angus McIntosh, the owner of Farmer Angus, said: “Not only do the pigs that eat the food waste become cured meat sold in Pick n Pay stores, but expired food is no longer going to landfill, which means that no methane will be discharged into the atmosphere from the food waste.”
Farmer Angus is a grass-fed beef and pork farm that follows regenerative agricultural principles and practices that is passionate about reversing climate change.
Due to their efforts to farm with nature, Angus Farms became one the first farms in the world to be paid carbon credits in 2014 for increasing the carbon contents in the pastures where its cattle graze.
Staff at Pick n Pay’s first first zero-waste supermarket will separate food and organic waste from general waste and recyclables. The food will then be placed into separate bins, de-packaged in the waste service area, and sent to Farmer Angus.
This includes all food except pork products, for which the retailer is testing a composting solution as part of the pilot.
Pick n Pay’s zero-waste initiative is the company’s commitment to reducing food waste and its environmental impact. The retailer has set a goal to reduce food waste in its organisation by 50% by 2030.
In 2022, the retailer diverted 62% of food waste from landfills through donations and prevented surplus food from going to waste.
IOL Business