Shoppers in a “small number” of its smaller Express stores will be able to bag food for free before the items go out of date, an internal memo seen by The Telegraph shows.
The trial will start from 9.30pm on products with the supermarket’s discounted yellow sticker in a move designed to reduce its food wastage.
With food prices rising since the start of the year, this could be a welcome relief for shoppers hoping to ease the burden of their weekly shopping.
Tesco staff will still have priority on the choice of food in the reduced section of the shop, while the supermarket will also continue to donate “some goods” to charities.
The free food on offer will be marked ‘reduced to clear’ in the final hours of the convenience stores closing. Before the mooted changes, customers would receive a maximum of 90% off items in the reduced section of fridges.
How life insurance can benefit your health and wellbeing over the decades
Sponsored by Post Office
The retail giant has told staff it hopes the decision will mean fewer groceries are thrown away, following its ill-fated partnership with a food waste processor. In February, Tesco terminated its contract with a firm that was using its food to generate gas that could be burned for energy.
This forced the supermarket into revising its figures to reflect the progress it had made on waste.
According to the report, a Tesco spokesperson said: “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.”
