Every year UK households throw 7 million tonnes of edible food and drink away. That’s £40 a month worth of food and drink thrown away in each home. As a Food retailer, we have our part to play in reducing food waste too.
How we tackle our food waste in Co-op
We’re working hard to help reduce the amount of food wasted in the UK. In Co-op, we do this by:
- managing our stock to try to make sure we don’t have too much
- donating surplus food from our depots to those in need with FareShare
- reducing the price of food that’s soon due to go off
- donating unsold food from our stores to local causes
- turning food we’re unable to share into green energy
Through our partnership with Fareshare, we’ve already donated millions of meals to those in need from our depots. Fareshare take our surplus food from depots and cook meals for those in need via their network of community groups and charities.
As of April 2018, we are now matching local causes with Co-op Food stores to redistribute unsold food through our Food Share programme, in the largest move of its kind made by a convenience retailer.
We’re looking for local causes to donate our unsold food to, apply now www.coop.co.uk/foodshare
This means we significantly reduce the amount of food waste and instead help more local causes. When we are unable to share unsold food we turn it into green energy through a process called anaerobic digestion which means none of our food waste goes to landfill.
After a trialing in 50 stores across the UK, we’ve introduced Co-op Food Share programme, where we match Co-op stores with local causes, donating our unsold food.
How we help you tackle your food waste at home
We’re the first UK retailer to partner with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and their Love Food Hate Waste initiative to help UK shoppers reduce their household food waste.
Here’s how we help you tackle your food waste:
- we print storage instructions on loose and packaged fruit and vegetables, table sauces, cooking sauces, bread and cereals
- print portion size guides on packets of rice and pasta, which you won’t need weighing scales to follow
- publish tips and ideas for leftovers in Co-op Food Magazine
- package some loose fruit and vegetables to help them stay fresher for longer
Read more about reducing impacts at our Co-op;
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