Checkout Magazine - Featured Article November 2008

Have you ever wondered where all the out-of-date products from supermarket shelves ended up? Well there was a time when all waste went to landfill, but thanks to changing EU legislation, that is no longer the case. Knowing this legislation was going to come into effect, one Irish company anticipated a niche in the market. Established in January 2004, Meath-based company Food Surplus Management is the only company in the EU with a Category Three Intermediate Plant Licence, which allows it to recycle both the packaging and contents of short-dated meat products, dairy products, soft drinks, fruit and veg and many other materials that would previously have gone to landfill. Although the legislation changed in 2004, prohibiting supermarket food waste from going to compost facilities because of the animal by-products involved, retailers have only begun to become aware of it recently, and more and more are beginning to see the benefits of such a service.

Niall Lord, managing director of Food Surplus Management, explains how the company came into existence by being one step ahead of the legislation. “We had been working on the application (for a licence) for three years with the Department of Agriculture. The company was set up in 2004 but it grew out of another business, which we still operate. Phoenix Pet Foods was established about ten or 12 years ago by my father Niall and my brother Adam. Basically they used to source raw material for pet food. Part of the raw material they were sourcing was short-dated meat products from manufacturers in Ireland. One of the bigger customers asked them to look into taking the full range of products, including yoghurts, juices, ready-made meals, cheeses, everything. My father recognised that there was a need for this type of industry. That’s really how Food Surplus started.”