Supermarket giant Morrisons has reported that it is to donate all unwanted food to charity and will be the first in the UK to provide this service to help those in need.
The service which has been successfully trialled in 112 stores in Yorkshire and the north east, found that stores managed to fill up four trollies of unsold food a week to feed others.
Head of corporate responsibility for Morrisons, Stephen Butts, said: "The challenge is finding the right community partners to work with…..Ideally we are looking for groups that can cook the food, meaning they can blend it [with food from other sources]."
The new service being rolled out nationwide, will involve one member of staff working alongside the charity groups. They will provide food past its best-before date that is safe to eat, ensuring that it is not past its ‘use-by’ date however.
With approximately 15 million tonnes of food that is wasted in the UK each year and costing around £5 billion, a petition has been signed by over 180,000 for all supermarkets to donate unsold food to charities.
