The life extending fruit stickers that redefine freshness

What unsustainable behavior needs to change:

Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Colombian National Department of Planning reveals a staggering amount of annual food waste of around 6.1 million tons in Colombia, with 40% of this waste attributed to fruits and vegetables.

Unfortunately, fruit is thrown away for a number of unnecessary reasons, cutting their life spans short. The mistaken idea that darkening, colour changing or texture softening means something is wrong continues this wasteful pattern. The bad habit of throwing away not perfectly looking fruit, passed down through generations, shows a long-lasting problem of humans creating food waste. It’s an unsustainable practice that urgently needs a big change.

The Green Nudge:

To counter this wasteful behaviour and promote longer life cycles, Dutch-owned wholesaler Makro, in collaboration with Grey Colombia, has introduced “Life Extending Stickers.”

This transformative solution is elegantly simple yet incredibly effective. By suggesting recipes based on ripeness and colour, particularly during the ripest stages that are often disregarded, the Life Extending Sticker prevents unnecessary waste. 

Take the banana sticker as an illustration: it transitions from green to yellow, then to brown, and ultimately to black. At each stage, a serving or cooking idea accompanies the colour shift. For instance, as the banana ripens, the sticker displays suggestions in sequence: fried, ice cream, tempura, and cupcake.

Launched in April 2023, these stickers are now employed in 22 Makro stores across Colombia, being specifically effective during ‚Market Wednesdays and Sundays‘. 

The result: the team behind the “Life Extending Stickers,” forecasts that the campaign will extend the average lifetime of fruit and veg by six more days, and create 70 tons less food waste a week (stores and homes combined).

Are you aware of any other nudges that help to get insights on energy consumption? Feel free to comment or get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com