Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has announced that it will be working with families in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire to tackle food waste by giving the market town £1million.
Working with the local council and community groups in 2016, they will be testing ideas such as using artificial “noses” to see if food is safe to eat and growing mushrooms in used coffee grounds.
The supermarket says that families could save a massive £1.2million a year by decreasing food waste and is looking to inspire other places to try this too.
Chief executive, Mike Coupe commented: “Food waste is one of society’s biggest environmental issues at the moment and there is a genuine passion across the UK to tackle it.”
As supermarkets are under pressure to sort out the food waste, campaigners have already dumped a skip full of waste outside Sainsbury’s and Tesco headquarters along with a petition signed by over 190,000 people. Campaign group Stop the Rot, which is backed by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has suggested that supermarkets cut waste by at least 30% by 2025.
Figures show that 1% - 200,000 tonnes of waste is from stores and approximately 15 million tonnes is thrown away every year with half of that coming from people’s homes.
Labour MP Diane Abbott suggested earlier this year that the government should ban supermarkets from throwing food away that is coming to its best-before date and that they should make it available to charities.
