UK retailer Iceland recently announced that it has reduced its food waste by nearly a quarter (23.2%) in the past two years.
Initiatives implemented by the retailer resulted in cutting food waste by nearly 2,500 tonnes during this period.
'In 2019/20, Iceland sold over 1.3 million tonnes of food to its customers and sent zero food to landfill, instead donating it to local communities, converting it into animal feed or as a last resort processing it into energy through anaerobic digestion,' the retailer said in a statement.
The company said that it has donated 157.8 tonnes of surplus food to people in need through a network of community partnerships and initiatives.
“Tackling food waste is high on our agenda as one of our many commitments to reduce our impact on the environment," said Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland.
Surplus Food
As a next step, the retailer announced a national rollout of a 100-store trial which sees surplus food given to store staff at closing time each day, across its store in the UK.
If successful the retailer will offer its staff in nearly 1,000 stores the option of taking food home or donating to a local charity or cause.
Walker said: “We’re continuing to innovate and find new ways to reduce the amount of food wasted across our operations, and our trial to give food to our colleagues is just one of the next steps we’ll be taking to build on our progress so far.
"I’m looking forward to seeing this in action across our stores and working with colleagues to take the next steps in our food waste reduction journey,” he added.
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