Every BILLA and BILLA PLUS store in Austria has charitable cooperation partners to save food shortly before expiration date
BILLA relies on cooperation with Team Österreich Tafel of the Red Cross, Caritas and SOMA social markets as well as with small, regional institutions
In 2021, the BILLA family donated food worth 27 million euros to social organizations throughout Austria
In addition, BILLA saves food with measures such as Too Good To Go, the fruit and vegetable sacks, the "Lebensmittel sind kostbar" stickers and the private label "Wunderlinge" (Wonderlings)
According to WWF, 40 percent of the food produced worldwide is discarded - this year, that's the equivalent of all the food produced from the beginning of the year until May 26, 2022. In Austria alone, an estimated 902,000 tons of food end up in the trash every year. 58 percent - and thus most frequently - of the food that is still edible is thrown away in private households*. In comparison, a minimum of products are discarded in food retailing.
"As one of Austria's largest food retailers, BILLA lives from the sale of food - disposing of it is neither desirable nor standard practice for us. Instead, our BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores implement comprehensive measures every day to ensure that edible food does not end up in the trash," explains Harald Mießner, BILLA CEO.
Since it is a well-known fact that together we achieve the most, every BILLA and BILLA PLUS store throughout Austria works closely with charitable cooperation partners – including the Team Österreich Tafel of the Red Cross, Caritas, the SOMA social markets, but also with small regional institutions such as the Flachgauer Tafel, the Pannonische Tafel, the Foodsharing initiative or the associations Allesverwerter, Hoffnungsschimmer and Lebensmittelretter OÖ. BILLA provides the organizations with high-quality goods whose best-before date is approaching free of charge. These are then collected directly from the respective store. With these cooperations, BILLA donated food worth 27 million euros in Austria in 2021 alone.
Donate, engage, discount: together against food waste
At BILLA, the sustainable use of valuable resources already starts with the order: In all stores, individual order quantities are based on forecasts, so that in the end only those goods are available that are actually sold. If products are left over that are close to their best-before date, they are offered to customers at a reduced price and marked with "Food is Precious" stickers to raise awareness.
And there is more: In the fight against the waste of valuable food, BILLA relies on innovative start-ups such as Too Good To Go, Unverschwendet and BRüSLi as well as on Austrian producers such as the Farthofer distillery, which are committed to saving food. Since recently, it has been possible in selected BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores to reserve and pick up surprise bags via the Too Good To Go app at a reduced price and thus save food. Likewise, at some BILLA and BILLA PLUS locations, fruit and vegetable sacks filled with fruit and vegetables that have small blemishes but are perfectly edible are offered for sale at a price of EUR 3,-. In more than 30,000 sacks sold so far, 90,000 kilograms of fruit and vegetables have been saved. In addition, every BILLA team takes care to process products in their entirety, and the label "Wunderlinge" puts fruit and vegetables on the shelves that, despite their unconventional appearance, are of the best quality and have a crisp, fresh taste. 7,400 tons of fruit and vegetables could be saved in Austria by the "Wunderlinge" in the period of one year alone.
*Source: Lebensmittelverschwendung - Vom (Über-)Lebensmittel zum (landschafftleben.at)
