Co-op

The Co-op aims to provide charities with surplus food for one million meals in 2016

The Co-op is doing its bit to reduce food waste by trialling its latest programme to redistribute leftover produce to various local charities.

Under the pilot, which was launched on Tuesday (30 August), food will be donated to eleven community groups from seven stores across Chelmsford, Braintree, Watford and Hemel Hempstead.

Food banks, day centres, youth projects and an Age UK centre will be among the organisations to receive the surplus food.

And if the new redistribution scheme is successful, the convenience store retailer will consider rolling out the programme across its entire estate of 2,800 stores.

Steve Murrells, the chain’s retail chief executive, said: “Our pledge to ensure any food fit to eat goes to the neediest is part of our aim to do business a better way to benefit the communities that we serve.

“We have been making great strides in food redistribution, and being able to provide food from our stores to local good causes is another big step forward.

“As a community retailer it was important to us to be able to support the groups where our stores are located, and this trial means we can achieve that goal.”

It is not the first time the retailer has launched a scheme to tackle food waste and feed vulnerable people. In October 2015 the Co-op rolled out a scheme across its nine distribution centres to supply 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.

The Co-op also works with the Real Junk Food Project in Leeds, donating food from its stores to its Pay as You Feel cafes as well as to breakfast clubs at local schools.

In 2015, the retailer redistributed 306 tonnes of produce, providing 730,000 meals to vulnerable individuals, and this year it wants to increase this figure to one million meals.