Tesco Fratton champions new food wastage initiative

A SUPERMARKET in Fratton has begun trialling a groundbreaking initiative to prevent the wastage of surplus food in their store.

Tesco Fratton Park Extra has teamed up with UK food redistribution charity, FareShare, and Irish social enterprise, FoodCloud, with the purpose of donating unsold food from the store to charities in the local area.

The scheme, which is already in place in Tesco stores in Ireland, is currently being piloted in 13 stores across the UK.

The new Portsmouth store will make this 14.

Gemma Morris, Community Champion at Tesco Fratton Park Extra, said: ‘I think it’s amazing.

‘One of Tesco’s aims is to reduce their carbon footprint and their waste.

‘We chuck a lot of food away at store level and that is something we passionately want to try and prevent.

‘It’s a chance for a big store to have a massive impact on the community and it shows a new light to Tesco being more than just a supermarket.’

Tesco has sent zero waste direct to landfill since 2009, by managing its surplus  food.

Strategies include ‘reducing to clear’ foods close to their expiry date, sending all bakery waste to be converted into animal feed for livestock and, if these options are not available, recovering energy from food waste through anaerobic digestion or incineration.

The store already has three local charities on board the scheme, including Pompey in the Community, Buckland Soup Kitchen and FoodCycle Portsmouth, with spaces still available for others to join.

Jon Roberts, store manager at Tesco Fratton Park Extra, said: ‘We’re here to make a really positive contribution to Portsmouth, to play our part in the local community.

‘We’re asking that groups who would benefit from surplus food register their interest on the FareShare website at fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud.’