Insights

As the holiday season approaches, the pace of retail and manufacturing operations accelerates. Shelves are restocked, seasonal packaging floods warehouses, and production ramps up to meet increased demand. But as the front end of the business gears up for celebration and sales, the back end begins to strain under a growing and often overlooked pressure.

Food waste is more than a backroom issue. It’s an operational challenge that is reshaping how retailers think about efficiency, risk, responsibility, and sustainability.

The grid is struggling to keep up with surging electricity demand driven by the rapid growth of AI and its increased reliance on behind-the-meter (BTM) energy generation. The race is on for solutions that offer both resilience and a path to long-term sustainability. Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) is emerging as the frontrunner for those determined to meet their energy needs and lead responsibly.

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, the largest IKEA retailer, has made a minority investment in Vanguard Renewables, a leader in transforming unavoidable food waste into renewable natural gas using proprietary anaerobic digestion technology.

A recent statewide characterization study found that food waste makes up nearly 21% of Wisconsin’s landfill stream, with wasted edible food alone accounting for 14.5%. That’s more than 850,000 tons of food waste annually; resources that could be recovered, repurposed, and redirected into more value-generating pathways.