UK – Tesco, one of the largest grocery store and retailer in Britain, has resolved to eliminate food wastage by gifting their employees with free food approaching its expiry date.
According to the company, less than 1% food is wasted, amounting to about 46,000 tonnes per year when they serve 50 million shoppers a week.
The retailer was committed to reduce the food wastage by introducing ‘colleague shops’ in all of its UK stores equipped with storage areas and fridges to keep food fresh before the expiry date.
The strategy also involves reducing on the surplus in their stores and distribution centres.
They plan to achieve this by reducing food prices as the food approaches expiry date or offering it to charities and community groups if food could not be sold.
Tesco donated over six million meals to over 3,500 charities and organisations through Community Food Connection while most of the bakery surplus converted into animal feeds, ensuring no food waste goes to landfill.
In collaboration with suppliers to ensure no food waste from farm to fork, the retailer was committed to delivering its mandate through ‘Courtauld Commitment 2025, a voluntary agreement it signed to cut food waste by 20% in a decade.
“We want to do everything we can to make sure perfectly good food doesn’t go to waste.
Our colleague shops are a win-win, providing an additional step to support our efforts to tackle food waste in our own operations, and offer colleagues an extra little help at the end of their shift,” said Mark Little, Tesco head of food waste reduction.
With almost a third of food produced in the world going to waste, the European Union together with the Food and Agriculture Organisation collaborated to sign a letter of intend to halve per capita food waste by 2030.
To help achieve this goal, Tesco was coming overboard to address the global concern of food waste by engaging the food supply chain and educating its customers on the need to avoid the wastages.