Lidl is rolling out its ‘Too Good To Waste’ fruit and vegetable boxes across all of its stores in England, Scotland and Wales following a successful trial.
The boxes are priced at £1.50 for approximately 5kg and contain fruit and vegetables from the store shelves that have become slightly damaged, discoloured or deteriorated, but are still good to eat. They are put together daily by the discounter’s in-store 'Freshness Specialists' and are available to customers from opening until midday, at which point any leftover boxes are given to local good causes through Lidl’s surplus food redistribution programme, Feed it Back.
Lidl says its offer is different from wonky veg boxes sold by other supermarkets as the initiative is designed to reduce fruit and veg waste in store. Instead of pricing down produce that is considered ‘wonky’, Lidl explained that it works with suppliers to ensure a degree of flexibility with specifications at different times of the year, to include items within standard product lines.
The trial was launched in August and ramped up to include 122 stores, during which time Lidl reported selling more than 50,000 Too Good To Waste boxes and preventing 250 tonnes of food going to waste.
Christian Härtnagel, chief executeive of Lidl GB, said: “The positive feedback that we have received off the back of our trial has been incredible; from our colleagues who are showing so much passion for them, to our customers who were getting in touch from the get go asking where they could get one. We’re therefore really excited to be rolling the boxes out to all of our stores nationwide, and we’re really pleased to see that it’s also starting to be adopted by other supermarkets.
“The really brilliant thing about this initiative is that, not only is it helping to tackle the highly important challenge of food waste, it’s also helping our customers make even more savings. Additionally, it’s a great example of how we, as discounter, can utilise our lean and efficient business model to fulfil our mission to make good, healthy food more affordable and accessible, while acting sustainably.”
