There’s been an abundance of positive news in the media concerning food waste this past month. Not only did France BAN stores from purposefully wasting food, but the instigator behind that movement declared his ambitions shortly after to take it global. Then, the former president of Trader Joes opened a non-profit, low-cost organic food store in Massachusetts, USA.
If anything, it seems there’s growing awareness about the need to curb food waste and implement sustainable change.
And now, the large British supermarket chain Tesco recently launched a pilot program in which it will give away fresh food it can’t sell to those in need.
Officials of the supermarket said nearly 30,000 tons of perishable food like produce, bread, and sandwiches were thrown in the trash from stores and distribution centers in the last year. Furthermore, the wasted food is now slated to go to women’s and homeless shelters, and school breakfast programs.
Said Tesco Chief Executive Dave Lewis to Reuters:
“This is potentially the biggest single step we’ve taken to cut food waste, and we hope it marks the start of eliminating the need to throw away edible food in our stores.”
Tesco has partnered with UK food redistribution charity FareShare and Irish non-profit FoodCloud to help with collection and delivery, according to a statement. Store managers will use the FoodCloud app to alert charities to the amount of surplus food available each day.
But Tesco isn’t the first store to implement a program like this. Rival British stores Sainsbury’s and Morrisons are carrying out similar in effort to reduce food waste.
Regardless, this great news affirms the power of collective awareness and consumer demand. Perhaps food waste will be a phenomena snuffed out in this generation as enlightened, more compassionate consumers rally to ensure all populations are cared for and fed.
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