Sustainable Commerce
Food waste
SME retailers with a Super Supermarket Certificate
organise campaigns against food waste
Together against food waste, matter of doing! Preventing
food waste is an important topic under the Super Supermarket
Certificate (SSK). SSK is the Dutch certification for
independent SME food retailers who are both locally and
socially involved. An awareness campaign encourages
customers not to take the products with the longest shelf
life. Products to be consumed within two days are labelled
with a specific sticker to make customers more aware of
their role in tackling food waste. It is more difficult for
some product categories. In collaboration with Wageningen
University, a pilot program is conducted to use residual
flows of bread as an ingredient to produce a high-quality,
local and sustainable beer. A complete practical manual with
a step-by-step plan for brewing beer is available for SSK
certified retailers.
Awareness campaign
In SSK certified
supermarkets the products approaching the best before date are
provided with stickers with the words (in Dutch language)
“Together against food waste, matter of doing!”.
This awareness campaign encourages customers to not take the
products with the longest shelf life. Products with this
sticker can be consumed within one or two days. The aim is to
make customers more aware of their role in food waste.
From bread to beer
The consumer loves
fresh bread. Bread that has not immediately sold is already
old and discarded the next day. In collaboration with
Wageningen University, a pilot is conducted to use residual
flows of bread as an ingredient for the production of beer to
prevent this waste. This way residual flows of bread from the
supermarket are processed in a high-quality way into a local
and sustainable beer. A complete practical manual with a
step-by-step plan for brewing beer is available for SSK
certified retailers.
About the Super Supermarket Certificate
The Super Supermarket Certificate (SSK) is the Dutch
certification for independent SME food retailers who are both
locally and socially involved. Retailers with the SSK
certification take sustainability into account, in the
broadest sense of the word, with their entrepreneurship. For
example sponsoring local (sport)clubs, the commitment to fight
against food waste, applying energy efficiency measures and
providing regional products in cooperation with regional
producers. The independent SME retailers are franchisee of one
of the supermarket formula/format Albert Heijn, Coop, Jumbo,
PLUS or Spar. In addition to the activities and expressions of
the supermarket formula/format, the SSK certified independent
retailer has added value. Independent retailers bring colour
to the community. As well as running their own business, they
do an exceptional amount outside the shop for the benefit of
other people, the neighbourhood and the community. The SSK
Certificate is an initiative of Vakcentrum.