Sustainable Food Waste Management
Central Retail recognizes that food loss and waste pose direct threats to the environment, food security, and natural resources. To address this, the company has adopted a four-tiered approach to sustainable food waste management: Prevention, by aligning food supply with actual demand; Optimization, by maximizing resource utilization before disposal; Recycling, by converting waste into organic fertilizer or biogas; and Disposal, by applying the least environmentally harmful methods. These strategies are embedded across the company’s operations to reduce food loss throughout the supply chain and promote resource efficiency.
One of the key initiatives is the "Surprise Bag" project, launched in partnership with Yindii, a food rescue application. Tops and Tops Daily collect bakery products, vegetables, fruits, and ready-to-eat meals that remain high in quality but are close to expiry, and repackage them into Surprise Bags. These are offered at up to 50% off regular retail prices through the online platform and are available for pick-up at local stores. This initiative helps reduce warehouse-related food waste, improves inventory efficiency, and enables consumers especially low-income households to access nutritious, safe food at affordable prices. In 2024, a total of 264 Surprise Bags were sold, equivalent to a food waste reduction of over 500 kilograms.
Another major project is “Food for Good Deed”, operated in collaboration with the Scholars of Sustenance (SOS). The program rescues edible but unsellable food and redistributes it to underserved communities. All food donations are subjected to safety checks and are transported using temperature-controlled vehicles. In 2024, the initiative delivered over 1 million meals to more than 3,000 communities nationwide, reducing food waste in the value chain by over 274 tonnes. It also established the "Tops Food for All" community kitchen, where surplus quality ingredients are prepared into meals for low-income residents in urban areas helping reduce living costs and encouraging sustainable consumption.
To convert food waste into useful resources, Central Retail has installed organic waste composting machines at its distribution centers. These machines process an average of 15 kilograms of food waste per day, generating approximately 10 kilograms of organic fertilizer per cycle. This has helped avoid up to 12 tonnes CO₂e annually. The fertilizer is used to maintain green spaces around distribution centers, reducing the need for chemical alternatives, and serving as a scalable model for organic waste management across other locations.
Another innovation is the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) Larvae Bioconversion Project, developed in partnership with Central Tham and Betterfly. This initiative collects organic waste from stores, malls, and food courts, and converts it into organic fertilizer and alternative animal feed using BSF larvae. The project started in Sakon Nakhon through collaboration with local community enterprises under the “BSF Food Court Model”, and has since expanded to 11 communities nationwide. A BSF Egg Bank has also been established to support a sustainable BSF farming network and build community capacity in managing organic waste through self-reliant practices.
To tackle food waste in areas with limited infrastructure, the company launched the "Samui Zero Waste Model" in 2021, focusing on Koh Samui, a popular tourist island in Surat Thani province. Employees are trained to sort food waste into two categories: surplus food suitable for animal feed, and inedible waste for composting or biogas production for household use. In 2024, the project reduced food waste by 48 tonnes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 112 tonnes CO2e. The company also supports the "Sustainable Samui Community Enterprise", which uses compost to grow vegetables and fruits for sale at Tops supermarkets, generating more than 240,000 THB in income.
Throughout these programs, Central Retail emphasizes collaboration among employees, local communities, and partners to manage food resources efficiently, reduce waste across the business ecosystem, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. These efforts align with the UNFCCC, which reports that food loss and waste contribute 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually.