In some of the more positive news doing the rounds about Tesco, the supermarket giant is in the process of launching a scheme that will see tonnes of surplus food being donated to charities.
Tesco admitted that around 55,400 tonnes of food was wasted last year alone, 30,000 tonnes of which was perfectly edible, but simply unsold.
Currently, the supermarket sends a portion of edible food waste to charity, but "the vast majority of food waste" from shops is sent to be used as animal feed, or in anaerobic digestion.
The scheme, in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare, will provide links for Tesco managers to local charities for a hand over of unwanted food several times a week.
Ireland has already seen this scheme in practice, with over 100 stores running test pilots. The UK will begin with 10 stores, in Glasgow, Belfast, Merseyside and London amongst others.
Chief Executive of Tesco, Dave Lewis, said: "This is potentially the biggest single step we’ve taken to cut food waste, and we hope it marks the start of eliminating the need to throw away edible food in our stores."
The move comes after MPs look to debate the possibility of introducing legislation to cut food waste, following France's decision to make such food waste illegal for supermarkets over a certain physical size.
Cedrec's take
This is a very good move from Tesco that should be applauded. With rising food bank usage, it makes sense that such usable food waste (30,000 tonnes from Tesco alone!) is put to good use.
However, it appears that instead of cutting down massively on genuine waste, Tesco apparently already uses food waste productively. Anaerobic digestion is a brilliant way to produce energy without causing major implications for the environment, and animal feed is also a worthy use for waste that would otherwise be sent to rot in a landfill.
Yet, if Tesco are able to promote the use of donation to charities, which benefits all parties involved, other supermarkets could follow suit. After that, perhaps smaller businesses could see opportunity to also contribute to such a cause.
