Online supermarket Motatos say too much food still ends up in landfill
Online supermarket retailer Motatos saved 25,642 tonnes of waste globally in 2022, with £798,000 worth of food saved from landfill in the UK alone
The 2022 figures represent an all-time high for Motatos with a 22.5% uplift on food saved compared with 2021 figures
Globally, Motatos saved an estimated £51m worth of waste, based on the estimated average value of food waste per tonne.
In the UK, Motatos saved 399 tonnes, worth £798,000, since launching in June 2022. According to the retailer, that’s the equivalent of 323 CO2e tonnes or 2,907 one way journeys from London to Glasgow in a diesel car.
The impact led D2C ecommerce retailer has made all this possible by selling products to customers that risk ending up in landfill for things such as damaged packaging, low sell by dates or discontinued items, for a discounted rate.
With the climate crisis at an all time high, taking action is imperative now more than ever. And with a recession looming in the UK, consumers are looking for ways to cut back whilst still enjoying the brands and products they know and love. Motatos allows consumers the best of both worlds by offering up to 60% off brands we all know and love, showing that sustainability can and should be affordable.
Yet right now, one third of all food that is being produced is never consumed. Food waste is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. And of this waste, the equivalent of over 15 billion meals could have been saved.
Karl Andersson, Founder of Motatos, said: “We’re starting to see a shift in how we’re approaching food waste in the UK and globally. In 2022 we saw supermarkets start to tackle the issue by removing ‘best before’ dates on packaging, encouraging consumers to consider whether their food is okay to eat rather than assuming it isn’t because of what it says on the label.
“All of this is great to see but there is still an unnecessary amount of food ending up in landfill. It’s our ambition to help people on their journey to cutting down on food waste, all whilst showing them that sustainability really can and should be affordable. We’re overwhelmed by the response we’ve seen in the UK market in the short time since we launched. We had over 20,000 people sign up in anticipation before we went live, and we continue to see there is a huge appetite for the UK to tackle food waste.”
