Sainsbury‘s has confirmed it would expand its household waste reduction programme after a trial at its Derbyshire store.
The “Waste Less, Save More” scheme that started last year has ambitions to cull UK food waste – where official statistics show the average family throws away £700 worth of food a year – by 50 per cent.
As part of the five-year, £10 million programme, £1 million was spent on the year-long trial in Sainsbury‘s Derbyshire outlet.
While this goal to cut waste by half was not met in Derbyshire trial, the scheme identified barriers to food waste reduction and Sainsbury‘s will now extend it to London before a nationwide rollout.
Another £1 million will be spent as part of this next phase in the five-year scheme.
READ MORE: Surplus supermarket fights back against food waste
The “Waste Less, Save More” programme includes the introduction of various gadgets like food sharing apps and smart fridges for customers to test.
“[The scheme] is a brand-new way of working and completely different to what anyone has done before, so it was hard to define a measure of success,” Sainsbury‘s head of sustainability Paul Crewe said.
“That said, we really wanted a stretching target to drive results and we‘re really proud of the progress that has been made at a household level. I always say that we‘re aiming for the stars, so it‘ll still be a success if we land on the moon.
“Having spent the last year getting under the skin of household food waste, we have realised that this kind of behavioural change won‘t happen overnight, but we have definitely seen positive progress on what will be a longer journey.
“What‘s more we‘re now looking to take the campaign nationwide. Even if we inspire small changes within our communities, these will add up to have a big impact.”
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette’s free daily email newsletter
