Tesco reveals food waste figures across operations and supply chain

Tesco, a UK-based retailer, has become the first major retailer in the country to reveal the levels of food waste across its operations.

According to Tesco, the move is part of its commitment to tackling food waste and to work with suppliers and customers to address the issue.

The food waste figures showed that 68% of all salad grown for bagged salads ends up as waste, with 35% of this waste occurring in the home.

In response, Tesco said that it will end multi-buys on large bags of salad, and is developing mix-and-match promotions for smaller bags to help customers reduce the amount they are wasting at home.

The retailer also stated that it will remove ‘Display until’ dates from fresh fruit and vegetables, use smaller cases in store and rearrange 600 bakeries in larger stores in order to reduce the amount of bread on display, to better control stock and reduce waste.

Bagged salad is one of the 25 best-selling grocery products at Tesco that have been tracked ‘from fark to fork’ to identify where food waste occurs.

The data also revealed that 40% of apples are wasted, half of bakery items are wasted, a quarter of grapes are wasted and a fifth of all bananas are wasted.

In the first six months of this year, Tesco stores and distribution centres generated 28,500t of food waste.

Tesco Group Food commercial director Matt Simister said, "We’ve all got a responsibility to tackle food waste and there is no quick-fix single solution."

"Little changes can make a big difference, like storing fruit and veg in the right way," he added.

"We’re working with our suppliers to try to cut waste at all stages of the journey from farm to fork."

The retailer is using the data to make changes to its own processes and cut food waste.

Figures published in 2011 by Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) showed that 15 million tonnes of food waste is generated per year in the UK.

WRAP director Richard Swannell said, "We welcome Tesco’s approach to tackling food waste across their whole supply chain, and by identifying the hot spots, they can tackle these areas effectively.

"Food waste is a global issue and collaborative action is essential if we are to successfully reduce food waste and reap the financial and environmental benefits of doing so."