The Manchester based group will donate its warehouse depot surplus food to local charities as it diverts food for over a million meals away from anaerobic digestion energy plants.
Following a successful trial at its depot in Castlewood, Derbyshire, the mutual is rolling out the programme from 14 September, supplying a range of chilled food items such as yoghurt, meat, fruit, vegetables and ready meals to the charity FareShare, which passes the food on to charities and community groups who transform it into nutritious meals for vulnerable people.
The findings from the trial show that in ten weeks The Co-operative redistributed 32 tonnes of food from one depot, contributing towards 76,192 meals.
The business estimates that in 2016 it could provide 500 tonnes from all depots – enough food for over a million meals.
Steve Murrells, Chief Executive – Retail at The Co-operative Food, said:
“This project has the capacity to improve the variety and nutritional value of the food redistributed by the Co-op, and to significantly increase the number of people that FareShare can support. In addition to the huge human benefit there are significant positive environmental impacts as all of this food will be diverted from anaerobic digestion back into the food chain, feeding people first as was intended.”
“Only a tiny percentage of total food waste – around 1.3 per cent – comes from the grocery retail industry*, but we are committed to reducing this. We are very grateful to all the suppliers that have agreed to support this initiative.”
