- Iceland has managed to redistribute surplus food equating to more than 1.4 million meals to communities across the UK between 1st April 2021 and 24th December 2021
- The supermarket has now committed to redistribute two million meals for FY21/22 as the business continues to fight food waste
Iceland redistributed the equivalent of more than 1.4 million meals between 1st April 2021 and 24th December 2021, as the supermarket beat its target of redistributing one million meals to people in communities during the current financial year, to the end of March 2022.
With three months left before the financial year ends, the supermarket is now aiming to redistribute a further 600,000 meals as it looks to redistribute two million meals for the year, double its original target. Each meal redistributed is equivalent to 430g of food.
The frozen food specialist has provided food for people in communities across the UK by partnering with local charities, which have then redistributed surplus food on its behalf.
For example, The Bread-and-Butter Thing (TBBT), a charity based in Manchester, redistributed over 45,000 meals from Iceland in a nine-month period up to the end of 2022. Iceland is continuing to work closely with TBBT, which is now also collecting food surplus from the supermarket’s Deeside and Warrington Depots.
Iceland also has a number of other charities and social enterprises it is working with, including:
- Soul Kitchen Chester
- Shrub Coop, based in Edinburgh
- Community Shop, based across the UK
- City Harvest, based in London
- Shrewsbury Food Hub
- Newtown Food Surplus
Iceland’s ‘Hello Taste, Goodbye Waste’ – an initiative that allows store colleagues to take home, free of charge, surplus food at store closing time each day – has also helped redistribute 652,272 meals since the start of April 2021. Colleagues can keep the food, share it with family and friends, or donate it to a community cause.
The supermarket is also looking at additional ways to further reduce food surplus, such as improving existing schemes and trialling new business models to reduce food waste.
Richard Walker, Managing Director at Iceland Foods, said: “Reducing food waste continues to be a huge priority for us. With the rising costs of living and families across the UK relying on food banks to eat, we are committed to redistributing surplus food wherever possible.”
“The partnerships we have formed with charities across the UK have allowed us to donate more than 1.4 million meals in the last nine months and I am pleased that we’ll be able to increase this figure to two million by the end of April.”
Iceland is a signatory to the Courtauld 2030 Commitment that enables collaborative action across the entire UK food chain to reduce food waste. It has clear food waste reduction targets and initiatives and regularly looks for new and innovative ways to meet and surpass these business goals. In line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal SDG 12.3, Iceland has set itself a target to achieve a 50% reduction of food waste in its operations by 2030, with 2017/18 as its baseline year and is on track to achieve this despite the impact of Covid-19.
For more information about Iceland’s commitment to reducing food waste and to read the latest Food Waste Report, please visit: https://sustainability.iceland.co.uk/.
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