Tesco is to begin a trial giving expiring food to customers for free at the end of the day as it tries to cut food waste.
The supermarket will give away some already discounted “yellow sticker” items after 21:30 in some of its smaller Express stores in coming months.
Tesco already donates expiring food to charities and foodbanks. It says it is taking this step to try to meet its goal to halve food waste.
The company said the expiring food would be offered to charities and shop workers first, before customers could take it.
A spokesman said the trial would begin in a small number of its Express stores in the UK. The locations have not been specified, nor the starting date.
“This trial will allow customers to take any remaining yellow-stickered items for free at the end of the day, after they have first been offered to charities and colleagues,” they added.
Tesco is Britain’s largest supermarket chain, with a 27.8% market share. It has 3,700 UK stores and about 750 more abroad.
If they make their own publicity out of it, that indicates what they are getting is goodwill, essentially at no cost. I don’t think that’s a bad thing ethnically or from a business point of view.
They could also be saving minor costs on waste management, disposal, etc. I’m sure they don’t remove organics from plastic before chucking it away, so they’re likely paying for that process by the tonne.