Co-op links up with app in new food waste initiative

Members and customers with the Too Good To Go app, which lists nearby businesses with unsold food, can now pick up Magic Bags of discounted stock that may have otherwise gone to waste.

More than 10,000 bags have already been sold since the initiative was launched earlier in October at the retailer’s 220-plus Your Co-op Food stores.

The bags are available from just £3.33 and contain £10 or more of surplus food.

Rupert Newman, chief food retail officer at the Co-op, said: “Our commitment to help build a more sustainable world remains as strong as ever and we are always looking for new solutions that help us to deliver this.

“We already have an excellent system in place to reduce our food waste and this partnership with Too Good To Go helps us to take that even further.

“As well as changing how we process food waste, we want to ensure as much as possible is consumed and this new initiative will help us do that.”

Paschalis Loucaides, UK managing director of Too Good To Go, said: “Food waste accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions so by reducing the volume of perfectly good food going to waste together we can take a big bite out of the problem.”

Earlier this year, the retailer launched a soft plastic recycling scheme in its food stores and, last year, replaced all single-use plastic carrier bags with compostable bags.

The Co-op operates food outlets in the West Midlands, the south west and the south east.