Retailer Co-op Fighting Food Waste with New Donation Scheme

Renowned retailer Co-op is adding weight to the fight against food waste with its new donation scheme that sees fresh produce given to community groups two hours before stores close, replacing its last-minute sales.

The scheme works by the removal items with a use by or best before date for that day two hours before closing, so they can be donated to thousands of charities and small community groups in time for them to be frozen or turned into meals. The scheme was trialled at 50 stores nationwide in the UK successfully, and will now be rolled out across its 2,500 locations, a move that could create up to 8m meals a year.

The fight against food waste has been highly documented, with brands, celebrities and ambassadors from all over getting involved to fight what is a serious global issue. We took a look at some of what was already going on back in 2017 in our June foodwatching report, Waste Not, Want Not. You can read the full report here.