Every route. Every partnership. Every meal.
MadPlus
Food belongs on the dinner table and not in the trashcan. Therefore, Salling Group and The Danish Food Bank have established the food waste partnership called 'MadPlus' (FoodPlus).
The goal is for surplus food from our nearly 700 stores to be collected and distributed to The Danish Food Bank's 417 recipients; social organizations across the country that serve free meals to people in difficult life situations.
With MadPlus, The Danish Food Bank and Salling Group have begun the development and implementation of a groundbreaking solution for the collection, distribution, and donation of surplus food. The aim is to triple the amount of surplus food saved from Salling Group's stores, from nearly 1,300 tons to 4,000 tons of food annually by 2027.
How MadPlus Works
Starting from January 2025, all Salling Group stores will be assigned a permanent MadPlus partner – typically in the form of local volunteers and social organizations like Stop Spild Lokalt, Wefood, or The Danish Food Bank – who will collect surplus food and deliver it to people in difficult life situations.
The Danish Food Bank guarantees that all stores will have a partner assigned and will handle collection themselves if a local solution is not possible. To ensure stability in the nationwide effort, a network of fixed MadPlus routes will be established.
An invitation to the Entire Retail Sector
After a test period, The Danish Food Bank and Salling Group will open the MadPlus model to the entire Danish retail sector. This is expected to happen in 2026, where all actors will be offered to become part of the project and contribute to reducing food waste in Denmark.
From 2027, we expect all stores to have surplus food collected and distributed several times a week. The vision is to make MadPlus a national standard model for food waste efforts in retail, where broad collaboration across actors helps Denmark become a leading country in Europe in minimizing food waste – benefiting both the climate and people in vulnerable life situations.
