With increasing awareness about food waste, we’re often faced with questions such as why throw away a bent carrot or a small egg? Should you put aside a product with slightly damaged packaging? Why get rid of long-life products, like rice, that are still edible long after their best before date?
Nous Anti-Gaspi
In 2016, Vincent Justin and Charles Lottmann, were frequently asking themselves these questions when their paths crossed in 2016. They were convinced that it was time to undertake a global and accessible approach to food waste. Together, they had the idea of creating a new network of grocery shops, based in France called NOUS Anti-Gaspi. The aim of these shops would be to fight against food waste. The shops would give products that were destined to be thrown away, but are still fit for consumption, a second chance.
Flashforward to May 2018, their first grocery shop was launched in Brittany. The objective of this opening was to work as much as possible with local products as well as to affirm a proximity with producers and food manufacturers. Since the opening of their first shop the pair have gone on to open another fourteen stores across France. These shops boast a variety of products such as local fruit and vegetables, dairy products, meat, sweet treats, and even hygiene and cleaning products.
All the products available are saved from landfill or waste and are guaranteed to be sold in their shops, at fair prices, with total transparency of their origins with clear traceability of the products. The mission of this network is therefore to fight food waste from within the industry.
Currently there are more than 10 million tons of food thrown away every year in France. And, unfortunately, things are not changing fast enough and global consumption habits need to be changed. Nevertheless, in the face of this huge problems, these small grocery shops are making a difference.
The Impact
Each week they recover and save more than 12 tonnes of products – the equivalent of 100,000 meals, per shop, per month. With each new grocery shop NOUS Anti-Gaspi challenge customers to live and think about their food consumption differently. They also aim to introduce their customers to new products. And the waste from these shops? Any unsold goods are then redistributed to local associations across France ensuring not a single thing goes to waste.
NOUS anti-gaspi presents us with a new way of viewing our consumption. They are grocery shops are committed to making every single purchase a win-win situation – for the planet, economy and the consumer.