Iceland is set to give food products on the last day of their shelf life away for free to online customers as it seeks to cut food waste.
The frozen food retailer said its “Free on Last Day of Life” scheme is expected to give away more than 1.3 million items worth £500,000 a year to customers.
All food items ordered and delivered by Iceland have previously had a shelf life of at least two days.
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The launch across all 1000 of the supermarket’s sites follows a successful trial in 40 stores with more than 17,000 items given away for free and customers receiving an average refund of £1.58 per order.
The process does not require any additional action by the customer.
If an item ordered is the only one left and has the same day date it will be scanned, labelled and placed in the shopping cart as normal.
The customer will be made aware of the free item ahead of delivery and will not be charged the original price.
All chilled, fresh, cakes, bread and morning goods will be included in the scheme.
“Reducing food waste is a huge priority for us as we continue to reduce our impact on the environment,” Iceland managing director Richard Walker said.
“We know that shelf life plays a big role in the creation of surplus food so we to have find an innovative way to combat this within our stores and via our online shopping.
“Our Free on Last Day of Life scheme not only helps reduce food waste but also supports our customers.
“We know cost is key to many of our shoppers and this new initiative allows us to offer them the opportunity to reduce their weekly shopping bills as well as helping to reduce food waste.”
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