South Africa’s Food Waste Challenge Shifts Focus to Supply Chains and Surplus Stock
South Africa’s Food Waste Challenge Shifts Focus to Supply Chains and Surplus Stock. South Africa’s food-waste challenge is extending beyond households, with significant volumes of edible food losing value during production, processing, storage and distribution.
Refreshi says stronger secondary markets could provide businesses with additional ways to recover value from suitable surplus stock while keeping products in circulation.
According to the CSIR’s national estimate, about 10.3 million tonnes of edible food in South Africa does not reach consumers each year, representing approximately 34% of all food produced in the country. About two-thirds of the losses and waste occur before the consumer stage, including during post-harvest handling, storage, processing and packaging.
Richard Honeyman, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Refreshi Exchange, said the scale of the challenge highlights the role businesses can play in addressing food waste.
Commercial stock can become difficult to sell through its original channels for several reasons, including overproduction, changing demand, cancelled orders, packaging changes and shorter remaining shelf life.
Refreshi already operates at the consumer end through its Surprise Bags, which connect customers with discounted surplus meals and groceries from participating outlets and retailers.
The company has also established Refreshi Exchange, a business-to-business marketplace connecting sellers with potential buyers of suitable surplus and discontinued food and consumer-goods stock.
Through the platform, sellers can provide information about available stock, while buyers can assess opportunities based on factors such as category, quantity, condition, location and remaining shelf life.
Honeyman said surplus does not necessarily mean that products are unwanted or unusable, noting that changes in forecasts, retail ranges and orders can leave businesses with stock that no longer fits its original route to market.
Refreshi said secondary commercial markets should complement, rather than replace, food donation and consumer food rescue. Where surplus is suitable for charitable redistribution and can be safely received, donation remains part of the response.
The company said the objective is to give suitable and safe surplus additional routes to market before it becomes waste.
The approach places food-waste reduction within both environmental and supply-chain considerations, while creating potential opportunities for businesses to recover value from inventory that no longer fits its primary sales channels.
