“The crooked supermarket” wants to save 100,000 kilos of rejected produce

During the national Dutch Waste-Free Week, No Waste Army is opening a pop-up supermarket at Utrecht Central Station featuring fruits and vegetables that regular supermarkets reject because of their appearance. The campaign aims to save 100,000 kilograms of food from the landfill.

One-fifth of all food is wasted

The pop-up, which will be open from September 7 through 13, will sell items such as misshapen cucumbers, small pears, and other fruits and vegetables that do not meet standard requirements for shape or size. A digital counter in the store starts at 100,000 kilograms and counts down with every purchase. No Waste Army aims not only to sell these products but also to spark a discussion about the standards that retailers and the food industry impose on fruits and vegetables.

“We’re opening a supermarket for products that really shouldn’t need a separate supermarket at all,” says No Waste Army co-founder Thibaud van der Steen. “If food is rejected solely because it doesn’t look perfect, the problem lies not with the food, but with our food system.” According to No Waste Army, the Netherlands wastes approximately 1.6 billion kilograms of food annually—about one-fifth of the total.

The pop-up supermarket features items such as crooked cucumbers and small pears. The store also sells non-perishable products made from salvaged harvests, including sweet potato chips and pasta sauce. During the week, No Waste Army is also organizing a “carrot washing station,” where visitors can test for themselves whether carrots fit the processing industry’s standard size requirements. In this way, the organization aims to demonstrate how appearance standards determine which food ultimately reaches consumers.

Starting 18 August, consumers can reserve a box containing two non-perishable items and three kilograms of fresh fruits and vegetables. They can pick them up at Utrecht Central Station during the promotional week. For NS Stations, the pop-up aligns with its sustainability policy: the railway company aims to make all stations waste-free by 2040.