Major Supermarket to Eradicate Food Waste by 2017, Give Unsold Food to Charity

In an effort to eradicate all food wasted in its stores and distribution centers, Tesco says that it will work with 5,000 different charities in the UK in order to give all unsold food to those who need it most.

Figures recently released by the company suggest that this new program could save 55,400 tonnes of food that were thrown away at its stores and distribution centers across the country in 2015.

The plan is part of a program called the Community Food Connection, which will start with 14 pilot stores, to kick off the goal of achieving zero food waste by 2017.

The Community Food Project has already been underway for six months in the UK, and it is responsible for giving 50,000 meals away to people who are the most food-vulnerable – the elderly, homeless, children, and the unemployed.

Read: 10 Ways to Stop the Food Waste

Tesco CEO, Dave Lewis, said:

“We believe no food that could be eaten should be wasted. That’s why we have committed that no surplus food should go to waste from our stores.”

Tesco is the second major retailer to participate in a major food waste initiative after Morrisons announced its own distribution project using “community champions” last year which is now also a nationwide program.

Tesco is working with FareShare to launch a digital open platform called FareShare FoodCloud, which allows staff and charities to communicate more efficiently in order to distribute surplus food.

Measures like these also keep perfectly good food out of the trash cycle. Another UK start-up with the same goal in mind – to reduce food waste – just received $3.3 million to expand their company. Marc Zornes, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Winnow, a London-based startup is using technology to halve food waste in commercial kitchens.

Sources:

The Independent

The Plaid Zebra

Featured image credit: Photo credit should read: Rui Vieira/PA Wire