Tesco Ireland has announced that it is donating 40 grocery home service vans to charity groups across the country.
The move is part of the retailer’s ‘No Time for Waste’ campaign, which aims to minimise food waste and increase donations of surplus food from its stores nationwide.
Initially, Tesco is donating seven vehicles to charity organisation FoodCloud, which will be used to redistribute surplus food from Tesco stores in Dublin and Cork to community groups that do not have access to transport.
“The donation of 40 vans is an evolution of our commitment to reducing food waste and ensuring those in need in our local communities receive nutritious food,” said Geoff Byrne, chief operating officer of Tesco Ireland.
“Our surplus food donations programme has grown from strength to strength,” he added. “This donation of vans will help us redistribute even more food to people in need.”
Food Programmes
Tesco Ireland began its own food surplus programme in 2014, and since then has donated almost 4.5 million meals to more than 275 groups across the country.
In September, the retailer launched a new campaign, The Community Chill, which aims to provide funding for local charities to buy fridges and freezers, so they can receive more surplus food donations to help people in need.
Additionally, this year Tesco became the first retailer in Ireland to publish its food waste data, and has made a commitment that no surplus food suitable for human consumption will go to waste in its stores by 2020.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
