Environmental Sustainability
SPUD.CA
Helena Mcshane didn't always know that supermarket produce displays are just for show. “Not to shame other grocery stores, but I never realized that those piles of oranges are there for me to look at, not to buy,” says Mcshane, communications and sustainability manager with Vancouver-based online grocer SPUD.CA. “There's so much waste in displays and what they think consumers want.”
About 2.5 billion tonnes, or 40 percent, of all food goes uneaten each year, according to the World Wildlife Federation and grocery chain Tesco. Meanwhile, food waste accounts for 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Canada loses or wastes 58 percent of its food, found a study commissioned by Toronto-based charity Second Harvest.
SPUD, which claims to have the lowest food waste of any grocery retailer in Canada, has taken several steps to make waste reduction part of its business strategy. For starters, it has no food displays, and fewer hands on produce means that less gets thrown away. The company's Foodx technology flags when a product with a short lifespan needs to go on sale. By looking at how customers fill their online shopping carts, SPUD can also forecast demand as far as two weeks in advance, Mcshane says. “That means we can buy just what they need.”
With help from local vendors ready to quickly meet demand, the company turns over 60 percent of its stock within 48 hours. SPUD also sells imperfect produce, which is typically rejected by grocery stores. To win over consumers, it's created recipes for such fruits and vegetables with local nonprofit Food Stash Foundation. Mcshane's Food Waste Fighters team finds a home for anything the 280-employee business can't sell: “I have, like, six food insecurity organizations on my speed dial.”
SPUD runs a Takeback program that collects soft plastic packaging from customers and sends it to Terracycle, which upcycles the material into new products. The company also sells a variety of items in returnable glass containers.
By delivering its food via van in reusable plastic bins, SPUD is carpooling for groceries, Mcshane notes. She cites a University of Washington study showing that using a grocery delivery service instead of driving to the store can cut carbon emissions by at least half. Each day, about 40 SPUD vans deliver 1,500 to 2,000 orders, picking up empty bins as they drop off full ones. “It's truly a circular model,” Mcshane says.