UK: Tesco says almost 30,000 tonnes of food 'wasted'
The retailer is introducing measures to reduce wastage including developing promotions for smaller bags of salad. The supermarket tracked 25 best-selling products and combined information with data from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) to give an overall food waste "footprint" for each item. The data shows that in the first six months of this year, 28,500 tonnes of food waste were generated in Tesco's stores and distribution centres.
It also found that a quarter of grapes were wasted between the vine and the fruit bowl and a fifth of all bananas were unused - with one in 10 thrown away by customers.
Tesco said it was ending multi-buys on large bags of salad, removing "display until" dates from fresh fruit and vegetables, using smaller cases in stores and rearranging 600 in-store bakeries to reduce the amount of bread on display. And it said it was involved in trials with apple growers to reduce pests and disease.
Matt Simister, Tesco's commercial director of group food, said there was "no quick-fix single solution" to tackling food waste. "Families are wasting an estimated £700 a year and we want to help them keep that money in their pockets, rather than throwing it in the bin," he said. "We're playing our part too and making changes to our processes and in store. Ending multi-buy promotions on large packs of bagged salads is one way we can help, but this is just the start and we'll be reviewing what else we can do."
He said Tesco was working with its suppliers to try to cut waste at all stages of the journey from farm to fork.
Source: bbc.co.uk
