Tesco has introduced a landmark measure to prevent food wastage on perishables as the retailer bows to pressure from DEFRA.
The new offer, 'Buy one get one free - later' or 'Bogofl' on perishable items, will hope to address the problem of food waste.
Consumers will be given vouchers that last for months at the checkout so they can claim the free item at a later date.
The move follows a threat by DEFRA in August to introduce legislation to reduce waste if stores failed to reduce the number of two-for-one deals, which are resulting in thousands of tonnes of food being thrown away.
The retailer said the initiative was part of a wider drive to help prevent waste through initiatives such as cutting packaging.
Tesco ceo Sir Terry Leahy said: “Customers will be able to get that other salad or vegetable or yogurt when they want it and when it will be used, not all together when it may - in the end - go to waste."
Tesco has already made steps along its plan to reduce energy by cutting prices on goods like energy-saving light bulbs and offer extra points for carbon-conscious purchasing.
The leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, said the retailer was offering the "carrot rather than the stick" with the new initiative and committed to a possible future Conservative government efforts in recycling and other green initiatives.
However, some have not seen the move as a big enough step. Helen Rimmer, food campaigner with Friends of the Earth, told The Telegraph it was "staggeringly hypocritical" for companies such as Tesco to claim their environmental credentials, saying it would take more than replacing 'bogofs' with 'bogofls'.
The news comes as Tesco eyes up the option of building its own windfarm to meet a new target of becoming a zero-carbon business by 2050.
The retailer, which generates more than 70 per cent of its carbon emissions from the refrigeration, lighting and heating required for its 2,100 stores in the UK, plans to meet the target by producing its own renewable energy.
Leahy said of the target: “I doubt whether we'll have a nuclear power plant, it's very safe to say, but possibly a windfarm and we have windmills.”
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