"It is blindingly obvious why we need to reduce food waste"; That's the summation of Tesco CEO Philip Clarke after it was revealed on Monday the staggering amount of waste in the supermarket giant's operations.
The supermarket giant revealed earlier this week food waste figures for its operations in the UK for the first time, revealing that 68% of salad to be sold in bags is thrown out - 35% of it in the home.
As a result of the findings, it is to end multi-buys on large bags of salad and is developing mix-and-match promotions for smaller bags in a bid to help customers reduce the amount they are wasting.
It is also removing ’display until’ dates from fresh fruit and vegetables, using smaller cases in stores and rearranging 600 in-store bakeries to reduce the amount of bread on display, with the aim of better stock control and less waste.
Speaking at the Global Green Growth Forum in Copenhagen, Philip Clarke gave a talk on why food waste matters to him.
"The fact that so much food is going to waste each year isn’t just bad for the environment. According to WRAP 15 million tonnes of food is discarded each year in the UK and four million tonnes of that is perfectly edible," said Clarke.
"Oxfam estimate that one billion people go to bed at night hungry. So we all have to get smarter about the way we source, sell and store food at home. And that’s where reducing food waste comes in as the foundation of a bigger, longer-term plan to secure sustainable supplies of food for future generations," he said.
"It is blindingly obvious why we need to reduce food waste.
"If we get this right, the small changes can make a big, lasting difference across the supply chain. We can actually have an exponential impact encouraging others to raise their game and be more efficient across the value chain," said Clarke.
