Fruits and vegetables are facing a dilemma-- 300 million tons of them
are being thrown away each year. The reason for the waste lies behind
the appearance of the produce. Specifically, anything that doesn’t fit
the norm is tossed. Intermarché, the third largest supermarket chain in
France, decided to recover imperfect and undesirable fruits and
vegetables. As a result, Intermarché launched the “Inglorious Fruits
and Vegetables”, a glorious campaign to reduce food waste. It
ingeniously markets the unique features of five fruits and vegetables
that would generally be thrown out: The Ridiculous Potato, The Failed
Lemon, The Unfortunate Clementine, The Disfigured Eggplant, and The Ugly
Carrot. As well, these unattractive fruits and vegetables are sold at a
thirty percent discount over the pretty ones, raising awareness about
food waste.
Intermarché purchases from their growers the products that would
usually be thrown away and instead, sell them in their stores. To get
people to understand that these fruits and vegetables were no different
than the prettier ones, they designed and distributed inglorious
vegetable soups and inglorious fruit juices. Overall, it was an
immediate success. On average, 1.2 tons of the fruits and vegetables
were sold per store during the first two days. In addition, there was a
24% overall store traffic increase.
This is a brilliant way to refocus people onto food quality rather than
its appearance. This initiative alone has increased awareness about food
waste, reaching over 13 million people after one month.
Coorsh, Karolyn. "Would You Buy 'ugly' Vegetables? That's How a Grocery
Chain Fights Waste." CTVNews. 29 July 2014.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/would-you-buy-ugly-vegetables-that-s-how-a-grocery-chain-fights-waste-1.1938024
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Kimberly D. Hafner
Undergraduate Intern
2014 BioEnergy & Sustainability School
Soil and Water Science Department
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