In Austria alone, an estimated 900,000 tonnes of food, the equivalent of 50,000 fully loaded lorries*, end up in the rubbish every year. Most often, up to 58 percent, edible food is thrown away in private households. 19 percent of food waste is generated by out-of-home consumption such as gastronomy including coffee houses, hotels, hospitals and care facilities. In comparison, 9 percent of products are discarded in supermarkets and wholesalers.**
In order to take active measures against food waste, every BILLA and BILLA PLUS store in Austria works 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 Allesverwerter, Hoffnungsschimmer and Lebensmittelretter OÖ associations. BILLA provides the social organisations with high-quality goods whose best-before date is approaching free of charge. These are then collected directly from the respective market. Through these cooperations, BILLA donated food worth more than 27 million euros in Austria in 2021 alone.
"As one of Austria's largest food retailers, BILLA lives from the sale of food and does everything in its power to handle fresh and, above all, still edible products responsibly. That is why our stores across Austria take comprehensive measures every day and work closely with our cooperation partners to ensure that valuable food does not end up in the rubbish. We are very proud of this successful cooperation," explains Harald Mießner, BILLA CEO for sales.
Saving food together
At BILLA, the sustainable use of valuable resources already starts with the order: In all stores, individual order quantities are ordered based on forecasts so that only goods that are actually sold are available. If there are still products 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.
There is more: In the fight against the waste of valuable food, BILLA relies on innovative start-ups such as Unverschwendet and BRüSLi as well as on Austrian producers such as the Farthofer distillery, which are committed to saving food. Likewise, at some BILLA and BILLA PLUS locations, sacks filled with fruit and vegetables that have small blemishes but are perfectly edible are offered for the price of three euros. With more than 131,000 sacks sold, around 420 tonnes of fruit and vegetables have been saved in Austria so far. In addition, every BILLA team takes care to process products holistically and the own brand "Wunderlinge" puts fruit and vegetables on the shelves that are of the best quality and crispy fresh taste despite their unconventional appearance. Around 5057 tonnes of fruit and vegetables have been saved in Austria so far this year by the "Wunderlinge".
* at a loading of 18 tonnes per truck; Source: Lebensmittelverschwendung - Vom (Über-)Lebensmittel zum Wegwerfprodukt (landschafftleben.at),
** Source: Lebensmittelverschwendung - Vom (Über-)Lebensmittel zum Wegwerfprodukt (landschafftleben.at)
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