Princess Marie and Selina Juul give interview about food waste and WeFood

Marie : My husband and I hope to be seen as examples. Examples of a simple life that I take very seriously. I cook everything that’s in the fridge, all the time. I do not like throwing food in the trash. Even if the expiration date has passed, I always take a second look at the product before throwing it away.

The voice over explains that Princess Marie is leading an initiative in fighting food waste , with two stores in Copenhagen already established by DanChurchAid. In these stores, you can purchase products left over from other stores with a 25% discount. Profit reverts to various hunger projects around the world. All this was possible when the law in Denmark changed in 2014 allowing products that would usually go into the trash but were still good for consumption to be donated by supermarkets and restaurants and resold in these stores like WeFood.

One employee of WeFood said: “It’s hard to tell people that they can eat food after the expiration date. Obviously, you have to be careful. For example, we do not sell meat or fish out of date because it would be dangerous but there is no problem in selling chips whose expiration date has passed.” The employee also shows vegetables with weird shapes or that are considered “ugly” by consumers but that are good to eat. No one buys them in regular stores , thus wasting, but they are bought into stores like WeFood.

The voice over says that last year, WeFood sold 100 tons of food that would have gone into the trash. The work is done by 100 volunteers, the most famous being Princess Marie.

Marie says : ” A third of all the food produced goes into the trash. And when we think that 800 million people are hungry in the world while we throw food away, it’s simply unacceptable.

The journalist also interviewed a garbage man who said he loves what he does!  They explained that each wooden cabine that serves as a particular dwelling building is destined for a different type of garbage. The degree of confidence in Danish society is high, to the extent that the garbage man has access to the dwellings of all the houses that are included in his job route.

Princess Marie also said : ” This is a country where we feel truly safe. We take our children to school by bike. It’s great!”.

With thanks to an anonymous reader, here is a transcript of Marie’s part of the interview:

Journalist : Today, the Denmark has become an example for the whole world [about food waste]

Marie: If there is one country where I could have imagined this to be possible, it’s here. Danes are really respectful, proper and generous. They have a huge respect for the environment. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the WeFood store…

Journalist : I did! You officially opened it

Marie: I did ! WeFood sells all the products that can’t be sell in supermarkets with a 30% to 50% discount, the ones with a broken packaging, the ones whose expiration date has passed and the ones that were in too much quantity , because there always is too much products [in supermarkets].

All profits go to the humanitarian association to help people suffering from famine and malnutrition , that is almost 800 million people.

If I am so involved in this cause, it is because I really care about this. And I don’t like throwing things in the trash [when we could still eat them or use them if it’s not food]. I really can’t do that and it’s part of my education. I had the chance to have parents who were good examples for me.

The change in behavior is the only way! It’s like turning off the lights [when we leave a room or don’t need them], we do not throw food in the trash. I hope never throwing food will become a reflex.

Selina: When I came to Denmark from Moscow, Russia 25 years ago, I was very shocked to see so much food here. People wasted food everywhere and I felt the need to create this movement and it exploded! So we aim to educate the consumers, we give them tool to help them stop wasting food and we also work with schools and children all over the country.
Journalist: Selina, Denmark reduced its food wasting by 25%, which is amazing. But you think we could do even better. How ?
Selina: Of course, 25% is an amazing job! And since the past ten years, our association has insisted on the change of habits of all levels of the food chain from the farms to the supermarkets and consumers. We were supported by the last three governments, we create a new chain of values where we collaborate with supermarkets,restaurants and consumers so that they won’t buy or serve products based on if they are “ugly” or not, the esthetic value is not taken into account. Of course, we can export our knowledge to other countries but you need to understand that Denmark is a really small country so this can not be implemented in the US, in China or in Russia but we are doing what we can to inspire them to avoid food wasting

You can watch the full interview here.

I emailed Stop Spild af Mad and Kongehuset asking for more information about these interviews and if there were going to be more of them but I didn’t get any answer so far.

Princess Marie is very involved in the fight against food waste. Last August, she was the Patron of the World Food Summit – Better Food for More People and she took over Samvirke’s instagram to talk about her own way of avoiding food waste in her home. You can read more about Stop Spild af Mad here.

For the interview with Globo Reporter, Princess Marie wore her white Zara jacket first worn in 2012 and her Jimmy Choo nude suede ‘Romy’ pumps first worn earlier this year.

We’ll next see Princess Marie on the 26th as she’ll attend AIDS-Fondet’s christmas party.