In view of the financial, environmental and societal challenges stemming from food waste, the Group has for several years sought to reduce sources of waste by offering solutions to customers and employees, first by implementing systems designed to reduce spoilage and unsold items, and second through donations.
In 2013, the Group signed the National Pact against food waste set up by the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
Levers in the fight against food waste include:
- continuous improvement of store functioning: by optimising orders, limiting spoilage through training and education of personnel, etc.
- donation of products to associations such as the French Federation of Food Banks (FFBA) and partnerships with organisations active in the social and solidarity economy, such as Phénix (Franprix) and Too Good To Go (Monoprix, Casino banners) when products have short remaining shelf lives.
- raising awareness of employees and customers. To improve their awareness, the banners implement customer awareness initiatives in their stores by handing out brochures such as “Great Ways to Reduce Waste” and “Waste Prevention Tips” (Monoprix) and “Combating Food Waste” (Casino).
- joint work with suppliers to extend the shelf life of products, without increasing the health risk; remove best-by dates on certain categories of products; and optimise packaging of food products with the development of single or portioned offers.
- the processing of damaged produce: Monoprix has partnered with Re-Belle craft jams made using over-ripe or damaged fruit collected from its stores.
In 2023, the Casino group’s stores and warehouses donated nearly 26,000 tonnes of food to combat food waste.
Lastly, many stores are adopting the sorting of non-consumable organic food products (meat, fish, etc.) for reuse in animal feed, biogas or composting.