Making the Invisible Visible: Turning Food Waste into a $540B Opportunity

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Making the invisible visible: turning food waste into a $540B opportunity

January 8, 2026

Deon Stander

President and Chief Executive Officer

LinkedIn Profile

Originally featured on LinkedIn

Food waste in the retail industry has long been viewed as a cost of doing business. But our latest research reveals something far more promising: it’s one of the most significant opportunities to strengthen performance across the global retail supply chain. What was once considered an unavoidable cost is emerging as a powerful driver of growth, efficiency and resilience.

What the data reveals

Working with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) and drawing on insights from 3,500 leaders across seven markets, we set out to understand how food waste is being measured, prioritized and addressed today. What we found is both striking and encouraging. While many businesses struggle to see where waste occurs, the sector is aligned on the opportunity. Scores of leaders now recognize that visibility is the unlock — that when you can see loss, you can manage it and when you can manage it, you can recover value that was previously hidden.

Shift in mindset

As business leader, climate and equalities campaigner Paul Polman notes in the report, “The future will belong to those who stop seeing waste as an inevitable cost and start treating it as one of the greatest untapped assets of our age.” That perspective captures the moment we are in. Waste reduction can serve as a pathway to resilience and a catalyst for innovation.

When waste becomes visible, retailers can act with precision, improving margins while building the foundation for a more secure and stable food system.

Innovation is already driving results

Across the supply chain, more businesses are turning to digital identification, advanced materials and data-enabled decision-making to improve freshness, reduce unsold inventory and strengthen availability. These are not distant ideas — they are practical, scalable levers already delivering measurable results. And the impact is significant. When waste becomes visible, retailers can act with precision, improving margins while building the foundation for a more secure and stable food system.

Collaboration will define the next era of retail

This shift requires collaboration across the value chain — growers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and technology partners working together toward shared outcomes. The leaders who embrace this mindset will not only accelerate progress but set new standards for transparency, efficiency and customer experience.

Making Possible™

This is the heart of Making Possible — a belief that began with the invention of the first self-adhesive label in 1935 and continues to shape how we approach every challenge today. By connecting science and technology and the physical and digital, we turn insight into action and unlock new value for businesses and the systems they depend on. Applied to food waste, that mindset helps drive a future where retail is smarter, more resilient and full of possibility.

Explore our full report and see how visibility can help unlock the next era of retail performance: https://avydn.co/3MmVFYN

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