Lidl is launching a new fruit and veg box scheme that will see produce just past its best sold at a significantly reduced price.
New ‘Too Good to Waste’ boxes will contain approximately 5kg of fruit and veg items that are no longer considered at their best, but are still perfectly good to eat.
Priced at £1.50, the boxes are currently being trialled in 122 Lidl stores. If rolled out permanently, Lidl said the scheme could lead to a saving of approximately 10,000 tonnes of surplus produce a year.
Since opening its first British stores in 1994, the discount supermarket chain has chosen not to include best before dates on 90% of its fruit and veg, preferring instead to let customers judge the quality of the produce for themselves.
As part of the new initiative, Lidl will also introduce additional price reductions on its fresh items that do contain best before and use by dates – on top of the 30% reduction already placed on such items in the lead up to best before and use by dates.
In 2017, Lidl committed to cut food waste by 25% per store by 2020 and has also signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 12.3 target of achieving a 50% reduction by 2030.
“We’re proud that in just one year, our stores have managed to cut food waste by 13%, however we recognise that there’s still a long way to go, to get where we need to be,” said Christian Härtnagel, CEO of Lidl UK. “We’re fortunate that our business model gives us the flexibility and agility to be creative and trial new approaches that can have a real, positive impact.”
