Fruit and vegetables gathered from wholesalers are being turned into fresh juice and sold in cafés and supermarkets across Scandinavia.
The Swedish company Rescued Fruits has developed a powerful yet simple business model to reduce food waste. They collect discarded fruit and vegetables before sorting and pressing them into bottled juice – often all in the same day. The fruits and vegetables are picked up from wholesalers, stores and growers across Scandinavia, including Everfresh, one of the largest grocery store chains. The juice is currently sold in 150 retail locations including cafés and coffee shops. The production process is inherently seasonal, creating a naturally varying flow of new flavours and batches.
Fruit and vegetables are thrown out for a number of reasons, and some of them have nothing to do with look or taste. At Rescued Fruits, the fruit and vegetables are checked, sorted and washed to ensure high quality and food safety from fruit that would otherwise have gone to waste for no good reason.
Why you should care
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 1.3 billion tons of food each year goes to waste globally, and that 45 percent of all fruits and vegetables are thrown out – the highest throwaway rate of any food category. By turning unwanted fruit and vegetables into fresh products, Rescued Fruit is fighting food waste while honoring the effort by farmers and food pickers in development countries.
How the Global Goals are addressed
Sustainable cities and communities
Rescued Juice uses food that would otherwise have gone to waste generated in cities across Scandinavia, therefore helping to reduce waste and keeping cities greener.
Responsible consumption and production
Rescued Fruits creates circular loops by turning food that would otherwise go to waste into new and affordable products.