Supermarket Sainsbury’s has launched a search for a UK town, city or borough with a population of 15,000 to 300,000 to become the test bed for some of the “most innovative ideas to cut down on food waste”. The selected town/city/borough will receive a £1 million investment in the first year, and will be used as a blueprint so that communities across the country can benefit from the results.
In a statement, Sainsbury’s said: “Over the last year we have carried out research with over 5,000 of our customers to find out about the values that matter most to them when they do their shopping.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly we found that it’s the issues that are closest to home that take priority, and top of the list for our customers is to waste less food.
”This is primarily driven by the impact that throwing away food has on household budgets, with the average family in the UK spending around £700 a year on food that could be eaten but is thrown away.
“We’re proud of the work we’ve already done to reduce waste, both ourselves and for our customers, but we know we need to be more ambitious, that’s why we’re launching our Waste Less, Save More initiative today.”