Anti-waste, or how unsold goods have become the new goose that lays golden eggs

Once a month, Audrey, 38, treats herself to a little treat: a surprise basket filled with “pastries, different kinds of bread or pieces of brioche.” At the end of the morning, she collects the products in a bakery or in a hotel near her home, at an unbeatable price: 2.49 euros. “At this price, we have enough quantities for two breakfasts for three people,” explains this territorial official. By using the Too good to go application for a year, she has already saved 80 euros. Like her, Sophie, 47, is a fan of these surprise baskets: “A few years ago, I would never have taken this step. But life is so hard today that I’m on the lookout for good deals.” In addition to the savings made, the two women are delighted to participate in “the fight against food waste”.

The French now want to consume more responsibly, while reducing their food expenses, in an inflationary context that has lasted for many months. And some companies have understood this well. “We are seeing renewed consumer interest in anti-waste products,” says Lucas Lefebvre, co-founder of La Fourche. On the site, an “anti-waste” tab provides access to “a selection of 175 to 400 products at reduced prices, depending on the offer of the week”. Chickpeas, soy sauce or deodorant... all products are sold cheaper than their original price, with reductions ranging from 20 to 80%.

To achieve lower prices, the company recovers products whose optimal use date has passed, but which are still good for consumption, or excess stocks from suppliers. With a cheaper purchase price, the resale price for the consumer is also advantageous. A liter of organic rapeseed oil thus costs 5.99 euros, compared to 9.80 euros initially. “All these products were about to be thrown away for absurd reasons,” emphasizes Lucas Lefebvre. Small defects in a product no longer frighten consumers, who think above all about their wallet. “Today, it is a hyper-strategic axis. We have never had such significant growth in five years, which we have doubled since the start of the year,” rejoices the co-founder.

This craze for anti-waste is also visible at the sector leader, Too Good to Go. “It is not an ephemeral trend, there is a real awareness among consumers of economic issues,” explains Clémentine Lindon, head of external relations for the company. Over one year, the number of users increased by 30%, or five million additional customers. “During one day last March, we even recorded a peak of one million French people connected to the application,” explains Clémentine Lindon. On the partner side, “they also need to optimize their income” and take advantage of products that would normally be thrown in the trash. More than 12,000 establishments have registered on Too Good to Go, reaching 42,000 in total.

“Waste occurs at all stages of the chain, upstream among producers and manufacturers and downstream among distributors and at home,” recalls, for his part, Sven Ripoche, co-founder of Bene Bono. This is why the different players easily share the market. Bene Bono intervenes upstream, directly with 350 farmers and organic cooperatives. In his baskets of fruit and vegetables there are carrots that are “a little crooked”, leeks “considered too many” or potatoes “which would be too numerous at the moment”. As a result, these baskets are sold around “40% cheaper than in organic stores”.

Among Bene Bono's 20,000 customers, 40% are families who want to "eat well for less money" and 60% are active couples "who want to consume better and reduce their environmental impact", summarizes Sven Ripoche. A formula that saves 40 tonnes of fruit and vegetables per week, still suitable for consumption. For Clément Méri, the co-founder of anti-waste Willy, “it’s a triple win-win principle”, both for the consumer, for the producer and, of course, for the resale platforms. By purchasing cheaper products, they have the possibility of applying an operating margin, which can be up to 50% on Willy anti-waste products. “This allows us, for example, to offer free home delivery of baskets above 39 euros,” explains Clément Méri.

Also read: Valérie Chansigaud: “Waste is a way of marking one’s rank”

In addition to producers, manufacturers and mass retailers also want their share of the pie. Danone, Fleury Michon and Nestlé work in particular with Nous anti-waste, to “give a second life to their unsold goods”. These can be found on the company’s website, but also in one of its thirty stores. “We recover, for example, slices of superior cooked white ham which have a slight tear, which we place in our trays and which we sell for less,” underlines Charles Lottmann, co-founder of Nous anti-waste. “In general, we resell a product 30% more expensive than the price at which we bought it,” he adds.

Nous anti-waspi also shares its stocks with Carrefour, which has sought to “raise customer awareness of food waste” since 2016. The distributor has launched several initiatives, such as extending consumption dates or even creating “optimized zones”. In these spaces, consumers find products with promotional deadlines, Too Good to Go baskets, Nous anti-waste products or even zero waste fruit and vegetable baskets, made by Carrefour. “Over one year, 1.5 million of these baskets were sold throughout France,” underlines Bertrand Swiderski, head of sustainable development at Carrefour. “For the past year, customer demand has been increasing, there is an effect of acceptance of anti-waste,” he adds, “but we can go even further.” The objective for Carrefour is to achieve 50% less food waste by 2025.

For Clémentine Lindon, the future of anti-waste depends above all on “raising awareness” among the French. “We need to increase information campaigns with advice and tips, for example how to better preserve your ingredients or better anticipate your meals,” she explains. The external relations manager for Too Good to Go also recalls “the incomprehension that remains around consumption dates”. For the DLC (use by date), “it must not be exceeded”. But for the MDD (minimum durability date), that is to say “preferably consume before”, “the product can be eaten after the date without health risk”. In partnership with several manufacturers, such as Danone, Unilever or Nestlé, Too Good to Go has also affixed the “Observe, smell, taste” pictogram to their references. “Young people must also be made aware from a very young age,” because they are the ones who will become the consumers of tomorrow.