Tesco joins zero-food waste movement

Tesco announced a new commitment to zero food waste on Friday, joining a number of other grocers already supporting food poverty charity FareShare.

The supermarket said the scheme - dubbed 'Community Food Connection with FareShare FoodCloud' - was being launched in 15 areas across the UK this week, including Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton and Portsmouth.

It would be rolled out to Leeds, Leicester, Kent and the West Midlands in the coming months, with the company promising it would reach all large Tesco stores by the end of 2016, with all stores covered by the end of 2017.

“We believe no food that could be eaten should be wasted – that’s why we have committed that no surplus food should go waste from our stores," said Tesco chief executive officer Dave Lewis.

“We know it’s an issue our customers really care about, and wherever there’s surplus food at Tesco stores, we’re committed to donating it to local charities so we can help feed people in need.

“But we know the challenge is bigger than this and that’s why we’ve made a farm to fork commitment to reduce food waste upstream with our suppliers and in our own operations and downstream in our customers’ own homes," he added.

Tesco was also inviting other retailers to join the programme, saying that once it was fully developed, it could create an industry standard platform to reduce food waste and redistribute edible unsold food to communities.

What other supermarkets are doing

Aldi has previously stated its goal of sending zero waste to landfill, and in 2012 was looking into anerobic digestion plants for its expired, unedible waste.

Asda uses markdowns to try and move food nearing the end of its shelf life, with any food that needs to go to waste being diverted away from landfill to processes such as anerobic digestion. It also sells 'wonky veg' boxes of vegetables not up to physical grade.

Lidl said most of its waste is either re-used or recycled, with meat waste processed into energy for the national grid, and fruit and vegetable waste turned into a soil fertiliser.

Morrisons also uses markdowns in a bid to clear items from shelves as they neared the end of their sell-by date, and has already worked with FareShare to redistribute surplus food since at least 2012.

Sainsbury's claims to be the first major UK supermarket to commit to a zero-waste-to-landfill policy, and donates any surplus food to charities such as FareShare. Any waste not fit for human consumption is used in animal feed, or sent for anaerobic digestion.

The Co-op signed up to support FareShare in 2012 as well, and committed in that year to stop any waste from going to landfill.

Waitrose says it's committed to sending no waste to landfill, and donates suitable surplus food from branches to local charities, with unsuitable items being diverted from landfill.