Denmark Opens First Market Dedicated To Selling Food Waste

One market in Denmark is taking steps to help reduce food waste. WeFood opened earlier this week in Copenhagen selling only food that is past its official expiration date or has damaged packaging (perhaps a beaten-up cereal box). The prices are about half of what they would be at a regular market, making the food accessible to a broader population and keeping it out of landfills. (Food in many cases can safely be eaten past its expiry date.)

Denmark wastes approximately 700,000 metric tons of food a day, though the country's throwing away 25 percent less food than it did five years ago, Quartz reports. Unfortunately, food waste in the United States has gone up in that time. Americans throw away 50 percent more food today than they did in 1990.

Denmark isn't the only country trying to cut back on food waste. Last year, a former Trader Joe's president opened Daily Table in Boston, a market where the products on the shelves are overstock from other markets and often approaching but not beyond their expiration date. France also recently passed a measure that requires markets to donate edible surplus food to charities.