Walmart is changing its process for handling expired food.
The nation’s largest retailer has launched a new initiative in 1,400 Walmart and Sam’s Club locations that will make it easier to “depackage” expired food, RJ Zanes, Vice President, Facility Services, Walmart U.S., wrote in a blog post.
In the past, this process meant workers manually separating perishable food items from its packaging. Now, the new technology, called Zero Depack, allows workers to toss expired meat and produce items into a receptacle where a machine separates the organic items from its packaging.
The machines, located in the back of Walmart stores, can separate as much as 97% of all trash from organic food waste. The remaining products will be recycled and donated to farmers as feed for livestock. A single Denali truck, Walmart said as an example, can collect waste weighing 11 tons from 18 different stores on a trip to an organic waste recycling facility.
“When separating expired or unsalable food from its packaging is made easier, it’s shocking what follows: cleaner waste streams, happier associates and a host of potential sustainability opportunities,” Zanes wrote. “This means our associates will spend less time supporting the recycling process and more time doing what they’re best at – helping our customers and members.”
According to ReFED, the U.S. generated about 77.6 million tons of food waste in 2022.
