LAETITHIA HARB AND LISETTE VAN DEN BRINK
Food waste is a big problem that the whole world faces. For years, Denmark has been on a mission to reduce products discarding and they have been successful. However, that does not mean that what they’re doing is enough, and therefore, organizations and individuals are working on their own to achieve these goals.
Even though Denmark was one of the first countries to take action when it comes to the global food waste issue, more can be done. Individuals are taking the initiative into their own hands, literally.
Many people are jumping headfirst into dumpsters to save food, a sight that is not uncommon these days. Sofie Juel Andersen gets her food daily from dumpsters all over Aarhus.
“It’s shocking to see how much food gets wasted,” she says. “There are so many people who could use this food.”
According to the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) approximately 1.2 million tons of food end up in trash cans each year in Denmark. Almost 70% comes from different places in the food business. The other 30% comes from Danish homes. Most often, that wasted food is not bad, it just does not live up to the country’s regulations. Denmark is one of the best food waste-limiting nations, and still, a lot of food is thrown out.
Food waste is not only inefficient, but it’s also bad for the environment. For instance, the production of meat is one of the industries that causes the most pollution in the world — only for big amounts to get thrown away on the daily.
Danish initiatives
Landbrug & Fødevarer (L&F), also known as the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, represents the farming and food industries of Denmark including companies, trade, and farmers’ associations.
Klaus Jørgensen, the area director of L&F says that they are facing the challenge if a growing population. “If we are going to be able to feed the world while solving the climate challenges, there is a need for innovative solutions and new technology.”
L&F is involved in several projects where they work on reducing food waste. “I can mention the Refood label, a trust-based certification which is characterized by less waste of resources and more recycling,” Jørgensen says.
Just like Refood, multiple organizations are taking different measures in order to save this significant quantity of food.
WeFood is Denmark’s first grocery store that sells surplus goods and is an initiative from Folkekirkens Nødhjælp. With a different selection of produce every day, it’s a modern and organised store with lots of fridges crammed with goods still able to be used. Products with damaged packaging, incorrect labelling, expired shelf life and seasonal stocks are still able to find themselves a new home. We Food works with volunteers and the profit goes to people in need.
Kirsten Wemmelund is one of the volunteers. She has been working for Folkekirkens Nødhjælp for 15 years and since September 2022, she’s been part of We Food. The store in Aarhus just celebrated its 5th birthday this year. “Most of the products come from Nemlig, Salling or Føtex. Nemlig is an online grocery store that has gotten popular because of Covid.
Since the end of Covid people don’t use it as much anymore, so sometimes they have more food than they can sell.
“We usually get products from them at least twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The customers can check our Facebook to see if we have some good new products.” says Wemmelund. During these days it gets quite busy in the store.
Wemmelund explains how the customers that visit the store can be categorized based on their need to save money and their want to be environment friendly.
“We see a lot of people from the Middle East or from Ukraine, and you can tell that they have some financial struggles. But we also have many customers who just really care about the environment,” she says.
According to Wemmelund who has worked in the health department before, a lot of the products that say ‘best before’ can still be used after the date on the packaging. They generally don’t go bad quickly.
Food restrictions
The DVFA acknowledges that statement. Ulrich Pinstrup is the section leader of the hygiene group at the DFVA and through his position alongside his unit he creates the guidelines for the inspection units and works on legislation.
He notes that there are two different labels for the dates certain foods should be consumed.
“We have the ‘use by’ date label which means that it’s something that can make you sick if you use it after the use by date. You can find it mainly on dairy products,” he says. “Your soy sauce or your salad dressings however have the best before date, and these won’t necessarily go bad immediately.”
That is why you are able to find more sauces and items with the ‘best before’ label at WeFood. However, that doesn’t mean that the store accepts all donations, they do have some restrictions.
“The price depends on what date it has and how many of the same products come in on one day. When for example we have a lot of chicken with the date of today, the price goes down. We can’t sell meat the day after,” explains Kristen Wemmelund.
She emphasizes that it’s smart to always use your senses as both a customer and an employee. “Fruits and vegetables don’t have an expiry date, so we usually throw the food out when it starts looking bruised or moldy,” she says, “if I would not buy it myself, I’m not selling it.”
Another approach to the food waste issue is the Stop Spild Af Mad (Stop Wasting Food) movement in Denmark. Klaus Jørgensen mentions that he is part of the board of this group that consists of Denmark’s largest non-profit organization against food waste that has been fighting this obstacle. “We have many exciting projects to reduce food waste,” he informs.
This movement has initiated and participated in over 200 local and international projects, events, campaigns, and research in the fight against food waste. Since they first started in 2008, they have been able to reach global news and create change Denmark had never seen before.
They have been able to influence a big number of the Danish retail chains such as REMA 1000, Coop Danmark, and LIDL. These stores now have collaborations with Stop Wasting Food and reduction initiatives.
Thanks to the organization’s prominent work, food waste across the entirety of Denmark was reduced by 25% in just 5 years.
Denmark citizens have in fact taken a big part in trying to reduce food waste in their environment. In a poll made by the Danish Agriculture & Food Council from 2016, 83% of Danes say that they have become more interested in minimizing food waste in their households. That number has been on the rise ever since.
Alongside the resale stores’ and NGOs’ initiatives, some individuals are taking matters into their own hands and searching grocery stores’ dumps for the free goods.
Dumpster diving
Dumpster diving has risen in Denmark in the last few years. Through Facebook groups information is shared and gatherings are organized to dig into the dumpsters. The divers are just regular people who care about the environment and would like to save some money.
Dumpster diver Sofie Juel Andersen dedicates her Instagram and TikTok to her bin diving journey in Denmark. She’s 29 years old, works in a bar and loves to dumpster dive in her spare time.
“When I used to live in Australia my sister who lives in Aarhus sent me a picture of all the good food she found in the dumpsters. That inspired me to go dumpster diving in Australia. I was shocked how much good food I found; I did not have to spend money on food anymore.”
Andersen tells us that it became some kind of game for her. “In the beginning it really became a treasure hunt for me. I got so excited to see what good food I could find in the dumpsters. Now it’s more about showing people how much food is wasted and how it’s actually a big problem.”
Andersen uses her social media to show what she found during her dives. She also documents the meals she whips up with her finds.
“There are a lot of food regulations that some important people made, and they get thrown out so easily. But there’s a lot of people who can really use the food,” she mentions.
She often shares it with her neighbours and friends.
“I don’t really look for specific products in the dumpsters. For me, it’s really about saving what is usable. For example, I use plants to regrow new ones even if they don’t look that good anymore. The stems are still usable for regrowing them.”
Andersen will always check if the food is safe to take home, especially with meat or dairy. “I will always check the temperature. If the meat or for example milk is warm, I will not take it home. Same goes for if the product smells bad or there’s any cracks in the packaging.” When taking it home, Sofie makes sure she cleans it properly and stores it correctly. “I will always use my senses while eating it.”
While in a normal household, according to Statistics Denmark, 38,434 Danish krones are spent on grocery shopping yearly, Andersen spends less than 1/12 of that amount.
“Last year I spent 2500 Danish krones in supermarkets. That was mainly on non-food like toilet paper and soap,” she explains, “it depends on what you buy of course, but now with the prices rising I save a lot of money.”
Even though many share Andersen’s thoughts about saving the food in the trash, people in authorities disagree with their actions.
Jørgensen expresses that L&F is not very supportive of dumpster diving. “When the retailer has thrown away food, there is a reason for it. The food can be dangerous to eat because of bacteria, glass tears or other things. So, I don’t think dumpster diving is a safe thing to do. But if people insist on doing it, I would suggest being very careful and checking the products thoroughly.”
That said, the DVFA has very flexible regulations following the EU legislation that leaves the responsibility of ensuring food safety with the companies handling these foods.
Pinstrup from DVFA recounts how businesses know more about their circumstances, their procedures, staff, and how their premises are constructed. They are the best to assess what is needed in their situation.
“The legislation is called a framework legislation, which means it leaves the food business operators with the option of choosing how they want to produce as long as the food placed on the market is safe and of a proper quality,” he says.
That doesn’t mean that there are no regulations set by the authorities. There are certain criteria that are required everywhere such as temperature provisions on certain products. Moreover, inspections over all registered food business operators (FOD) take place up to four times per year depending on the business and the risk it might present as well as the score each place gets.
The inspection scoring system works as follows, based on the FOD’s activities, you are scored and the higher the score, the more often inspections are done.
These scores are based on the risk connected to the activity taking place. For instance, a slaughterhouse often scores almost the highest amount of points, which means that in those places visits happen more often, up to four times a year. With wine retailers, on the other hand, almost nothing can go wrong, so the score is very low.
These inspections therefore help keep companies in check when it comes to food safety and the discarding of products into the garbage bins.
That doesn’t mean that the DVFA is not also taking into consideration the environmental aspect of food safety and the waste it produces.
“Traditionally, our main focus had been on food safety. But over the last decade or so, while respecting food safety, we now also focus on sustainability, which of course includes a focus on reducing food waste,” Pinstrup says.
Food waste is not prohibited in Denmark, but the food that is discarded should actually be in unsafe conditions and not okay to be distributed. That means that according to the DVFA, dumpster diving is a hazard.
However, that doesn’t discourage individuals from dumpster diving and taking part in movements in order to decrease food waste even more. The dumpster divers want to raise more awareness. Thus, it may be time for the authorities to come up with ways to save the environment and give discarded products a better home.