Tesco groceries and free food update: In an effort to eradicate food waste and meet its net zero goals, Tesco plans to distribute food for free. In contrast to its customary reductions, which usually limit food discounts to 90%, the supermarket is experimenting with a “Tesco free food yellow stickers” system that marks pricing of £0 for food that is due to expire.
In the upcoming months, the supermarket will give away certain of its already-discounted “yellow sticker” items in some of its smaller Express stores after 21:30. Although Tesco wants to donate unsold food to charities, some of it has been used in anaerobic digestion—a process that produces gas that may be used for energy—and is therefore considered trash.
Tesco will continue to donate food to charities as part of this new initiative, and employees will receive priority for yellow-stamp items that were discontinued earlier in the day. As part of the trial, shoppers will be able to take home for free any leftover food that is still in stores prior to closing time and is marked “Reduced to Clear.”
The study will enable Tesco to “continue with our drive to reduce food waste within our own operations,” the company said to employees in an internal document obtained by The Telegraph.
In 2023, the Science Based Targets Initiative verified the brand’s ambitious goals to achieve Net Zero. Cutting food waste in operations by half by 2025 is one of these goals.
The supermarket was forced to update its food waste reduction statistics in February of last year when it was discovered that it had been collaborating with a food waste processor that used anaerobic digestion.
This indicated that, rather than the 45% it had anticipated, food waste had only decreased by 18% between early 2017 and 2023. Regarding its most recent experiment, a Tesco representative stated:
‘We are constantly looking for innovative new ways to reduce food waste. In all our stores we offer unsold surplus food to charities and community groups, donating millions of meals each month’
“This trial, in a small number of our Express stores, 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.”
According to a spokesperson, the trial will start in a few of its UK Express locations. Neither the start date nor the venues have been disclosed.
“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.
With a 27.8% market share, Tesco is the biggest supermarket business in Britain. It has roughly 750 stores overseas in addition to 3,700 in the UK.
All major UK grocery companies have relationships to send surplus food to charities. Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi, and Morrisons, the next top four after Tesco, have also committed to cutting food waste in half by 2030. Aldi claims to have already accomplished this.
Food basics including meat, eggs, butter, and cereals are more expensive now than they were a year ago due to inflation and the growing cost of living.
Later this year, households will also have to pay more for energy and water. In recent years, a lot more people have also used food banks. Over 1.4 million more people have joined the Trussell Trust food bank in the last two years.
Tesco reported its “biggest ever Christmas” and its largest grocery market share since 2016, which contributed to its recent impressive January sales statistics. On Thursday, its share price was down just 0.5%.