Tesco meets landfill waste target a year early

Last month, we revealed that the United Kingdom throws away 5.4m tonnes of "avoidable food waste" per year, making it one the big unspoken environmental crisis of our times. How, it appears that supermarkets such as Tesco's are now striving to change that.

According to The Grocer, Tesco has revealed that it has already reached its target of diverting 100 percent of waste produced by its supermarkets away from landfills. Not just that, but it has reached this target, a year ahead of their initial estimates.

With more and more studies revealing how much food we throw away as a nation (approximately 5.4m tonnes of food waste per year (in individual terms - 1.6bn untouched apples (or 27 per person) and 2.6bn slices of bread), it was only a matter of time before supermarkets reacted according.

As one of the largest sources of wasted foods, supermarkets are estimated to throw away approximately 1.6 million tonnes of waste per year. However, three years ago Tesco committed to find ways of diverting all its waste from landfill by 2010.

This week, its entire estate of 2,315 UK stores as well as distribution centres and offices announced that the company had achieved that goal.

In a statement, executive director Lucy Neville-Rolfe said;

"Climate change is the biggest challenge facing us today and businesses such as Tesco have a responsibility to provide leadership."

"Tesco understands the value of developing new technology, which is why we helped launch the Sustainable Consumption Institute with a grant of £25m last year. As well as research and development, improving our own operations and helping customers to make easy, green choices are the best way to combat climate change."

The trend is catching on with other shops and supermarkets. Several high profile stores (such as Pret A Manger) now donate a certain amount of their unsold stock to homeless charities instead of dumping it.

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