// Holland & Barrett to offer products past their best before end date in new trial
// The initiative aims to reduce the retailer’s landfill waste by 30%
// Trialled in 25 stores, it will see best before end products given a dedicated space for customers to shop
Holland & Barrett is set to sell products past their best before end date at a discounted cost to customers, in an attempt to reduce its contribution to land fill waste.
Following increasing customer demand, the initiative is being trialled in 25 stores in the Devon and Cornwall regions and will see best before end products given a dedicated space in store for customers to shop.
Suitable products from all categories will be included in the trial period, apart from vitamins, chilled and frozen food, milk products and protein shakes and powders.
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If the trial is successful, the health and wellbeing retailer said it would look at rolling it out nationwide across its 800-plus UK store estate.
Holland & Barrett said this could potentially save “thousands of tonnes” of waste being sent to landfill every year.
“It is estimated that the UK generates 41.1 million tonnes of commercial and industrial waste each year with landfill being the second most used waste treatment in the UK,” Holland & Barrett group innovation director Hilary Leam said.
“In recent years we have seen an increasing demand from our customers who wish to buy products that have past their best before end date, but best before end dates can confuse many shoppers and encourage needless waste.
“These labels are only a quality indication, which tells the customer that the product may no longer be at its ‘best’, but is still safe to be sold and consumed after this date.
“We hope that this initiative will help our customers save money where they can, whilst also helping us to reduce our waste.”
Holland & Barrett is also the first retailer to ban plastic bags back in 2010 and recently introduced a 5p charge on paper bags to encourage customers to think twice about their single-use bag usage.
It also banned harmful micro plastics from all products in 2012, and only stock products which are free from SLS and parabens.
In May this year, Holland & Barrett became the first high street retailer to announce its intention to ban wet-wipes from its UK and Ireland stores, promising to no longer buy, sell or produce wet-wipes as part of its “Clean and Conscious” pledge.
The retailer said all 34 products in its wet wipe range are being delisted and will be gone from all UK and Ireland stores and all participating international stores by end of September 2019.
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