Morrisons has become the first UK supermarket to offer cut-price food past its ‘best before’ date through the Too Good To Go app.
Customers can use the service to purchase boxes of unsold fruit and veg, bakery and deli items worth at least £10 for £3.09.Thecontents of the boxes will be revealed when picked up from the local supermarket.
The scheme has been trialled in a handful of stores and Morrisons has now announced it will be available in all of its 494 supermarkets nationwide from 26 November.
The retailer said the move was aimed at helping customers on a budget and to providing another channel for food that might otherwise be wasted.
Morrisons expects to distribute 350,000 boxes of unsold food in 2020, and this will reduce CO2 emissions by 882 tonnes – the equivalent of driving from London to Edinburgh 5,351 times. Morrisons is committed to halving operational food waste by 2030.
Hayley Conick, UK Country Manager at Too Good To Go, said:“Every single day perfectly edible food goes to waste simply because it isn’t sold, and this is having detrimental effects on our planet. In fact, food waste contributes to eight per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need greater awareness of the issue of food waste, so we are delighted to welcome Morrisons as our first UK supermarket partner. Together we can fight food waste and ensure that quality surplus produce doesn’t end up in the bin.”
Jayne Wall, market street director at Morrisons, added:“It will also mean we waste less food this Christmas as it will find a home for products that can’t be sold after the festive period.”
The Too Good to Go app offers food from restaurants and cafes including YO! and Caffe Nero. Users can select a local store from which to purchase the unsold food. They pay through the app and then collect their food from the store during a given collection window.
Too Good to Go users have so far saved over one million meals to date through the Too Good To Go app, preventing 2.5 million kg of CO2 emissions.
