REWE Group actively fights against food waste and celebrates the 10th anniversary of its private label "Wunderlinge", which gives fruit and vegetables with small blemishes a second chance. Since 2013, an impressive 60,000 tons of fruit and vegetables have already been saved by customers under the Wunderlinge private label, including 7,100 tons in 2022 alone. Whether too small, too big, too colorful or too crooked - at BILLA, BILLA PLUS, ADEG, PENNY and SUTTERLÜTY, depending on the season, various types of fruit and vegetables appear on the shelves at attractive prices, despite their sometimes unconventional appearance, but in top quality. The Wunderlinge product variety is colorful: including potatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, apples, cherries from Austria, but also pomegranates or other exotic fruits.
Marcel Haraszti, Member of the Management Board of REWE International AG: "The 10-year success story of the Wunderlinge is an impressive example of the many measures we implement every day at REWE Group in the fight against food waste. As one of the largest local suppliers in Austria, we and our trading companies BILLA, BILLA PLUS, ADEG and PENNY strive to reduce loss rates to a minimum. To achieve this, we combine modern forecasting systems and automated ordering processes with short transport routes and seamless refrigeration."
Sustainable management and cooperation with innovative companies
In the fight against food waste, REWE Group in Austria implements many measures along the value chain: from awareness raising, optimization of ordering processes, further processing in the store, own product lines as well as cooperations with charitable institutions and innovative start-ups. Surplus items with an approaching best-before date are sold to customers at reduced prices and marked with appropriate "Food is Precious" stickers.
In addition, the trading companies of REWE Group cooperate with companies such as Unverschwendet and the Farthofer distillery, which process surplus food into products such as jams, syrups and fine spirits. The cooperation with Too Good To Go also enables customers to reserve and pick up leftover food at reduced prices. Across Austria, BILLA and BILLA PLUS locations also offer sacks of slightly defective fruits and vegetables for three euros, subject to availability.
Several million euros in food donations to charitable organizations
All trading companies also work closely with charitable organizations, including for example the Red Cross (Team Österreich Tafel), Caritas, the SOMA social markets and local initiatives such as the Flachgauer Tafel, the Pannonische Tafel, Foodsharing and the associations Allesverwerter, Hoffnungsschimmer and Lebensmittelretter OÖ. As part of these cooperations, REWE trading companies make high-quality products with approaching best-before dates available for pickup free of charge. In 2022, REWE Group donated food worth more than 40 million euros to social organizations in Austria.
