Published 13 March 2018 • Inter IKEA newsroom

IKEA saves one million meals through food waste initiative

Being careful with resources is a core value for IKEA. With the Food is Precious initiative, IKEA aims to cut food waste by 50% in all IKEA stores by August 2020.

With one third of all food harvested or produced around the world being lost or thrown away everyday IKEA wants to inspire and enable people to think different about food waste and incorporate sustainability into their everyday life.

The Food is Precious initiative aims to cut food waste by 50% in all IKEA stores by August 2020. A little more than a year since the roll out of the initiative IKEA has reduced food waste equivalent to one million meals. To put that into a context; one million meals could feed one thousand people for a whole year.

Enthusiastic and dedicated co-workers as well as a simple technical solution are two of the key success factors of the Food is Precious initiative. Through a smart scale solution, food waste is measured and reported in IKEA Restaurants, Bistros and Swedish Food Markets. So far 35% of all IKEA stores have implemented the solution while other stores are preparing implementation.

“As we set out with high ambitions and the goal of decreasing food waste by 50% at IKEA, we are happy to share that the initial results are very promising. All the stores that have implemented the solution show a significant decrease in food waste after only a few months. That is a great motivation for us to continue the roll out of the initiative working together with IKEA co-workers all around the world.” says Michael La Cour Managing Director at IKEA Food Services AB.

With 414 IKEA stores in 49 countries more than 660 million people enjoy the IKEA Food offer every year. With the global reach of IKEA we believe that we have a great opportunity to make a strong contribution to cut food waste and to inspire people to think differently and change their behaviour around food waste.