Morrisons in Portsmouth to sell boxes of fruit, veg, bread and more for just £3

The supermarket (the first in the UK to partner with Too Good To Go) has pledged to reduce its food waste by 50 per cent by 2030.

The move aims to help customers on a budget and to provide another channel for food that might otherwise be wasted.

Each year we throw away around 10 million tonnes of food – worth over £20 billion – according to WRAP, a leading UK sustainability watchdog.

Morrisons bosses said the service (initially trialled in just a handful of stores) will be available in all 494 of the supermarket’s outlets.

This includes the Portsmouth branches in Victory Retail Park and Anchorage Road, as well as in Cosham, Waterlooville and Gosport.

How will it work?

From Tuesday November 26, Morrisons will begin selling boxes of products past their best before dates for £3.09 on the Too Good To Go app.

Food items will include:

- Fruit

- Vegetables

- Bakery goods

- Deli food

The contents of the boxes, which Morrisons says will each be worth around £10, will be revealed when shoppers pick them up from their local store.

Jayne Wall, Market Street Director at Morrisons, said: ‘We are using technology to help us reduce food waste and to help more people afford to eat well.

‘It will also mean we waste less food this Christmas as it will find a home for products that can’t be sold after the festive period.’

How does Too Good To Go work?

Launched in the UK in 2016, Too Good To Go is designed to reduce food waste by partnering with businesses and customers.

Bosses at Too Good To Go say their app has helped save more than one million meals (preventing an estimated 2.5 million kgs of CO2 emissions) by allowing users to find local businesses with unsold food.

People can download the app on their phone, and browse nearby stores with food available. They can then pay for food through the app, and collect it from the store during a specific ‘collection window’ time.

Hayley Conick, UK Country Manager at Too Good To Go, said: ‘Every single day perfectly edible food goes to waste simply because it isn’t sold, and this is having detrimental effects on our planet. In fact, food waste contributes to 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

‘We need greater awareness of the issue of food waste, so we are delighted to welcome Morrisons as our first UK supermarket partner. Together we can fight food waste and ensure that quality surplus produce doesn’t end up in the bin.’

Morrisons expects to distribute 350,000 boxes of unsold food in 2020, reducing CO2 emissions by 882 tonnes – the equivalent of driving from London to Edinburgh 5,351 times.