Can a supermarket show that some food is just too good to waste?

Morrisons, one of the UK’s largest supermarkets, is launching a one-kilogram ‘Too Good to Waste’ box to sell fruit and veg that are at the end of their shelf life, but are perfectly good to eat.

What a waste

The UK discards over 4 million tonnes of good food each year which equates to just over 80 million wheelie bins worth. In fact, over 250,000 tonnes of the food that goes to waste each year is still edible. In a bid to tackle this issue Morrisons supermarket is selling one-kilogram boxes filled with fruit and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste as they’re reaching the end of their sell-by date.

Small price, big impact

The boxes will be on sale for £1 in every Morrisons nationwide and are designed to offer customers more of their five-a-day even when they’re on a budget. Morrisons stores stock a minimum of over 75 varieties of fruit, over 80 sorts of vegetables, and over 50 types of salad – which could all appear in the box. So with such a wide variety of produce, customers may be able to sample things they may not have even tried before.

Going the extra mile

The ‘Too Good to Waste’ box is just another tool in Morrisons’ ongoing campaign against food waste. The supermarket is unique in buying whole crops direct from farmers, and earlier this year committed to increasing the number of wonky fruit and veg products by 50 percent. To date, Morrisons has also donated over 4 million unsold food items to local community groups and recently announced it would hand out free fruit to children in stores – to prevent unsold fruit being thrown away.

This story shows how Morrisons supports Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, specifically Target 12.3: “By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.”

About Morrisons

Founded in 1899 by William Morrison, Morrisons began as an egg and butter stall in Rawson Market, Bradford, England. They are now one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK. In fact, Morrisons now employs 110,000 employees and serves around 11 million customers each week.

Learn more about Morrisons.