Tesco programmes fighting food waste: not a single bite of food can be thrown away!

According to the Hungarian Food Bank Association, 1.8 million tons of food waste is produced in Hungary every year. In the 2016-2017 fiscal year Tesco published a report on the quantity of food surplus and waste the retail chain had produced during their operations – Tesco was the first retailer to measure and publish such data in the sector.

Fighting food waste is a priority for Tesco: the company’s goal is not to a waste a single bite of food that isn’t sold in stores. In cooperation with Hungarian Foodbank Association Tesco operates a food saving programme, as part of which the workers of participating Tesco stores collect unsold food products (e.g. baked goods, fruits and vegetables that are still of good quality) and give it to charity at the end of every day.

Between September 2014 and October 2017 the retail chain donated more than 9,007 tons of food to charity. This quantity makes more than 22.5 million portions of food. Donations are already collected in 130 Hungarian Tesco stores, and more will follow this year.

In 2017 Tesco launched the Perfectly Imperfect product range, that is now available in 112 hypermerkets in order to reduce food waste in the supply chain: the retailer accepts those selected fruits and vegetables from suppliers which formerly didn’t meet aesthetic specifications, but are of good quality. Since the programme’s launch more than 600 000kg of produce were saved from ending up in the bin.

In August 2017 Tesco announced that they would take over and sell surplus from farmers – in the form of flash promotions – that is produced suddenly, due to weather conditions. Twenty-four Tesco suppliers have made a pledge to publish food surplus and waste reports, and to cut their food waste by 50 percent by 2030. (x)