Minimising food waste is “embedded” in the Tesco business, said our judges, who praised the retailer’s efforts as “ambitious” “impressive” and “of massive benefit” to charities all around the UK.
Since rolling out its much lauded Community Food Connection scheme in early 2016, the retailer has boosted donations of surplus food by 148% to 5,700 tonnes, set itself a target to eliminate edible surplus food from stores by 2017, and CEO Dave Lewis chairs the UN Committee to halve global food waste by 2030.
If that wasn’t enough, Tesco remains the only supermarket to publish a full category breakdown of its food waste data and has continued to lobby for all rivals to follow its lead.
“They are first to market, ambitious, and it’s there at CEO level,” said one judge. “It’s not for glory, they want to influence others. And they aren’t precious about the systems they have set up or the investment they have made. They would like others to follow. There is a sense of wanting to lead the way.”
The “breadth of what they are targeting throughout the supply chain and in stores is very positive,” another judge added, while the “systemising of picking up food from stores is tremendous.”
The fact that Tesco staff have reacted so positively and participated fully in all its efforts to minimise food waste is also a “real step forward” too.
Overall, our judges saw Tesco’s plan as a “credible, considered and concerted” effort to tackle one of the biggest issues in grocery, with one saying: “I believe what they say and that they are being true to themselves.”
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