Britain’s biggest supermarket chains have committed to revealing the amount of food they throw away in an attempt to reduce food waste.
According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), Asda, Sainsbury’s, the Co-operative, Marks & Spencer and Morrisons will collectively release regular figures on the amount of food discarded by stores from spring 2015.
It said the supermarkets signed up to the initiative have committed to publish their data on food waste created at the retail stage, along with annual progress reports, and are working with consumers to help cut food waste in the home.
The new agreement includes a commitment to reducing emissions from refrigeration gases by 80%, and to divert less than 1% of waste to landfill, by 2020.
15 million tonnes of food are discarded every year in the UK, according to figures from the Government’s waste reduction advisory body, Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap).
“This initiative has been very successful in showing how industry can reduce the environmental impact of the retail sector,” said Environment Secretary Owen Paterson.
“Retailers recognise that it makes business sense and delivers real environmental benefits as well as value for their customers, “ said BRC director general Helen Dickinson.
Last October, Tesco released figures showing that it generated 28,500 tonnes of food waste for the first six months of 2013. The supermarket giant said it planned to end some food promotions where wastage was recorded e.g. bagged salad.
The retailer said that 40% of apples and just under half of all bakery items were discarded.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine
