Supermarkets reveal actual (environmental) cost of fruit and vegetables

Several European supermarket chains have promised to show the actual cost of fruit and vegetables to consumers. Integrated in that cost is the environmental impact the products have.

Normal items are too cheap

Bio distributor Eosta’s subsidiary, Nature & More, launched an initiative to show how products are often sold too cheaply. They do generate a profit for supermarkets, but there is a net loss when looking at the environmental impact of the products. With this initiative, backed by the supermarket chains, the company hopes to convince customers that biological fruit and vegetables are not too expensive, but that the rest is too cheap.

The numbers printed on the cards spread across the supermarkets come from a method developed by the World Health Organization in 2014. This method can calculate all the hidden costs, revolving around water pollution and greenhouse gases. 

Nature & More feels these costs are currently covered by the tax payer or shifted to the next generation. For Belgium, these cards will be available at Bioplanet supermarkets.