Waitrose says that it is now producing zero food waste. What are other major supermarkets doing to tackle the problem?
Britain’s supermarkets generated around 300,000 tonnes of food waste last year according to Channel 4 News, but there are signs that this tide is turning.
Waitrose recently announced that it now sends no food waste to landfill, three months ahead of schedule.
It already donates some suitable surplus food from most of its branches to local charities and plans to extend this to the rest of its stores by the end of the year.
The rest goes for anaerobic digestion (AD), which converts it into energy, or composting, if there’s not an AD plant close by, which produces fertiliser.
Waitrose uses waste company Cawleys, which says that every tonne of food waste processed using AD saves 905kg of carbon emissions from leaking into the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Marks & Spencer has signed a deal with a waste management company to convert its food waste into power for over 30 of its stores.
What about the rest?
Three of the big four supermarkets – Asda, Morrisons and Tesco – have been reticent in revealing just how much food waste they produce.
So I asked the other major supermarkets, including those three, what they are doing to combat food waste. Here are their responses:
Aldi
"It is Aldi’s goal to send zero waste to landfill, and this includes food waste. Wherever possible, we donate food that is still suitable for consumption to charity and social programmes to assist the less fortunate in society.
"Inevitably there is some food that can’t be consumed because it is past its use by date, but we are looking into new technologies that will provide a solution to this waste issue. We are currently running a pilot scheme in which our food waste is sent to local anaerobic digestion plants that use food waste as fuel to generate electricity.”
Asda
"We try to minimise food waste in our stores and one of the most popular mechanisms we have is our famous ‘whoops’ stickers. These are markdowns that we put on products coming to the end of their shelf life that mean our customers get an even better bargain and we reduce the amount of food that we have to waste.
"When we do have to waste food, we divert 100% from landfill and towards other processes like anaerobic digestion."
Lidl
"89% of all waste generated by Lidl UK is either re-used or recycled. All meat waste generated at store level gets processed from waste to energy, producing electricity for the national grid.
"The majority of fruit and veg waste generated at store level is processed from waste to a soil fertiliser for agriculture."
Morrisons
"In store, as products approach their shelf life we take positive action to clear them by reducing their price or using the food in our own staff canteens.
"We constantly review packaging in store. For example, we made a significant change on fresh fruit and vegetables in packs by removing ‘display until’ dates. We believe this will help reduce unnecessary food waste.
"We work with national food charity FareShare to redistribute any surplus food that can’t be sold in our stores to a community-based network of organisations working with the most vulnerable people in society. We work with HisChurch who are able to take any excess, unsellable (but edible) food and other grocery products and redistribute them.
"We also work with Company Shop. They buy and sell own branded food that our suppliers have manufactured but that is surplus to requirements and could be wasted and sent to landfill. Products with incorrect labelling, damaged cases, or packaging design issues are collected under a carefully controlled process from suppliers by Company Shop. Stock is then sold at discounted price through the company shops of food retailers."
Sainsbury’s
“Reducing food waste has been one of our top priorities. Sainsbury’s was the first major supermarket to commit to sending zero food waste to landfill and one of the first major retailers to achieve it. Instead we donate any surplus food to charities like FareShare to help feed vulnerable people in our communities. Any food waste that is not fit for human consumption is used in animal feed or sent to anaerobic digestion plants to generate renewable energy."
Tesco
"Some waste does occur, for example, where products are damaged, but wherever possible it is recycled or used to make alternative sources of energy. For example, bakery waste would be dried and processed to be used as animal feed. Meat is frozen and sent to be made into pet food and used cooking oil is collected and sent to be turned into biodiesel. The rest is sent to a sorting plant where materials are picked out to be sorted and the rest, where possible, sent to generate energy from waste plants."
The Co-op
"We are using the latest packaging technology, for instance increasing shelf life of steaks by using skin-pack packaging, and providing more prominent storage instructions on pre-packed and loose produce bags to help our customers reduce their food waste at home.
"We have also signed up to support national charity FareShare and back its campaign to help communities relieve food poverty and reduce food waste across the UK. We are sending surplus food from several distribution depots to some of the most disadvantaged people in the community.
"The Co-operative has also launched a trial to segregate waste at store level to eventually remove all waste from landfill by the end of 2013, which will include food waste that is beyond its use by date, and is illegal to pass on for human consumption, being sent for anaerobic digestion."
Where should food waste go?
So all of the major players say they are taking big steps to cut down the amount of waste sent to landfill. And most of them are now donating some surplus food to food charities. Some people will argue that free food makes certain people reliant on handouts and that not everyone is deserving of the charity.
Whether supermarkets should be donating more instead of sending it for anaerobic digestion is a harder question to answer. Either way, it's good to hear that food waste is being put to good use, rather than rotting slowly on some rubbish dump.
Where do you think supermarket food waste should be going? Let us know in the Comments section below.
More on cutting down food waste
How a little common sense can help us cut our food waste
How to make the most of leftovers
How to freeze your excess fruit and vegetables