One particularly effective initiative is the ‘Too Good To Go’ app. It makes it possible to offer surplus but still edible food in ‘surprise bags’ at a heavily discounted price shortly before closing time. Customers reserve these directly in the app and collect them from the store - a low-threshold approach to active food rescue. The ‘rescue bag’, which is customised by ADEG retailers and offered directly in the store, follows a similar idea. It contains products that are approaching their best-before date and is also sold at a significantly reduced price. Both models have become established at many ADEG retailers: Gernot Piber in Mörderbrugg (Murtal district) and ADEG retailer Markus Haferl in Atzenbrugg (Tulln district), for example, rely on the ‘Rettungssackerl’, while Peter Buchmüller in Großgmain (Salzburg district), as well as ADEG Neuwirth and ADEG Wolfsberg in Carinthia use the cooperation with ‘Too Good To Go’ as an effective measure against waste.
No good food goes to waste in Ernsthofen
In her store in Ernsthofen, self-employed ADEG saleswoman Gisela Haumann impressively demonstrates how food rescue and social commitment can go hand in hand. Food that is close to its best-before date is cooked up into fresh lunch menus in her kitchen. These are purchased by the local kindergarten and the mobile ‘Meals on Wheels’ service, among others - and thus make a doubly valuable contribution: against waste and for people in the region. ADEG Haumann also finds creative uses for old baked goods: The ADEG saleswoman processes unsold rolls into savoury dumpling variations such as Kaspressknödel, which are available frozen in the store (and usually sell out quickly). Products that can neither be cooked nor sold are donated to charitable organisations in St. Valentin and Enns. ADEG Haumann is also a member of the ‘Foodsharing’ initiative - a volunteer-organised movement that passes on surplus food free of charge to raise awareness of sustainable consumption and actively prevent waste.
Regional partnerships against waste
Three committed ADEG retailers in different regions of Austria show how closely food rescue and regional cooperation can be linked. In Ostermiething in the Braunau district, ADEG retailer Florian Ebner reduces the quantities of bread and baked goods in the afternoon to prevent oversupply. If there is still some left over, old baked goods are not disposed of but passed on to farms in the neighbourhood - as valuable animal feed. Daniel Marosi-Tiefenbacher in Bischofstetten (Melk district) and Jasmin Gratzer in Weitensfeld im Gurktal (Sankt Veit an der Glan district) also rely on this sustainable form of utilisation. By passing it on directly to local farmers, they not only help to feed the animals, but also prevent edible products from ending up in the bin. This is an example of how simple means can make a major contribution to sustainability.
