Eliminating Food Waste
This article will take approximately 2 minutes to read
Published 9 Mar 2023 in Raising Awareness
It’s WRAP’s Food Waste Action Week, so today, we’re sharing our targets and some inspiration & top tips from our Chipping Norton Food store to help us achieve them together.
Our aim
Did you know that over a third of all food produced globally goes to waste?
We want to make sure that as much of the food in our stores as possible finds a good home in someone’s tummy.
That’s why, over the next three years, we aim to cut food waste by 30% (from 2019 levels) and stop 900,000 food items going to waste each year. But we need YOUR help to achieve it.
But we absolutely can’t do it without you! Read on for tips on how you can help.
Blog - Cutting food waste at Chipping Norton Food store with Store Manager, Dave Hughes
We spoke to Dave Hughes, Store Manager for Chipping Norton Food, about ways his store is reducing waste and asked for some of his waste-slashing top tips.
“Our first priority has been to communicate to colleagues the objectives of the business and why we want to cut food waste, because it’s important to have colleague buy-in.
Then we make sure we stick to company policy for dynamic reductions to reduce the cost of products through the course of the day. The third level reductions are relatively new, dropping prices between 7-8pm, and the Society has also just introduced a final 10p reduction in the last half an hour of trading for colleagues. Colleagues are really making the most of that and, speaking to the team, we’re finding that this is really helping us reduce food waste in our store.”
“We also make sure we feedback on lines where we’re receiving too much stock through ServiceNow. And if that is the case, we’ll also make sure that the actual counts on the products are correct, rather than just relying on the system to do it for us.
Whenever we notice there are quite a few products about to go out of date, we increase the number of Too Good to Go bags and we are finding people are buying these now more than when they first launched. Too Good To Go is an app-based solution that notifies customers when food that would have otherwise been going to waste is available to purchase at a discounted price.
Also, in Chipping Norton we have the Chippy Larder community project, where people pay a low subscription fee to collect fresh and ambient food weekly. If there’s anything that’s destined for the bin, for instance, fresh produce that’s passed its best-before date rather than its use-by date, we’ll donate that food to them and they pass it on to families in need. They have said that the demand has never been so high and they have a shortage of food, so we’re happy to help when we can.
Every month there’s a community supper for 50-100 people at the Town Hall. Run by Rizvana Poole, she looks at what we’ve got going out of date and tailors her menu to fit with what we’ve got. That way, the food can be used to feed a lot more people locally. It started as a one-off but we now do it every month.
All of these things are helping us make a difference and help tackle food waste.”
Top tips for cutting waste from Dave Hughes @ Chipping Norton Food
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Tell colleagues about the Society’s targets and gain their buy-in by explaining why it matters
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Follow the Society’s reduced-to-clear procedures
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During floor walks, notice, when the reduced to clear section, is looking heavy and find out why
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Look at your store’s waste report every week
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Don’t just rely on the system, do your own counts if you have too much waste in one area
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Report lines where you’re receiving too much stock through ServiceNow
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Increase the Too Good to Go bags when you have a lot of end-of-life products
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Contact your community partners and links, such as foodbanks, who may be able to make use of the food
Cut waste with Too Good to Go
Have you used the Too Good to Go app yet? We’ve teamed up with Too Good to Go to help you make a difference. It only takes one click to buy a Magic Bag, saving you money and helping to tackle food waste.
The Society’s future food waste plans
To help us achieve these targets, we are investigating various initiatives to help us further reduce food waste, including exploring partnerships to help us distribute food that is going to waste to those that need it.
If you have any other ideas for ways we may be able to cut waste in your area, please post your comments below.
For tips on cutting your own personal food waste click here.