Tesco is expanding its fight against food waste by allowing staff to take home food approaching its expiry date.
The retailer is set to introduce storage areas and fridges at the back of all its UK stores as part of its ongoing attempt to ensure no food safe for human consumption goes to waste in its UK retail operations by the end of 2017/18.
Tesco’s head of food waste reduction Mark Little said: “We want to do everything we can to make sure perfectly good food doesn’t go to waste.
“Our Colleague Shops are a win-win, providing an additional step to support our efforts to tackle food waste in our own operations, and offer colleagues an extra little help at the end of their shift.”
The new storage facilities will be introduced by the end of February, and the surplus food will initially be made available for 1p per item before becoming free in a few months’ time.
Tesco said its Colleague Shops will form an additional part of its existing approach to managing stock in store.
The retailer already uses complex systems to predict and order the right amount of food; it reduces the price of products as they approach their expiry date; and it offers surplus food to local charities and community food groups via its redistribution initiative, Community Food Connection.
Since charities don’t always need everything offered to them, any food left over will now be made available to Tesco employees.
