RETAIL
In October of 2013 , in a remarkable effort to increase consumer trust and its own supply chain transparency , UK-based retail giant Tesco opened up its books and revealed its food waste figures to the public for the first time in the brand ’ s history . The numbers weren ’ t necessarily anything to be proud of : Tesco found that its stores and distribution centers had generated 56,580 tons of food waste within its 2013 / 2014 fiscal year alone . But by disclosing those numbers , the brand invited the public to hold it accountable for improving those numbers in the future .
This month it will be a year since Tesco launched this initiative , and it is still at the forefront of the chain ’ s corporate social responsibility docket – “ to lead in reducing food waste globally ” is at the top of Tesco ’ s Three Big Ambitions for making a positive social impact . One year later , what sort of progress has Tesco made in tackling the food waste problem ?
Improving the Supply Chain to Improve the World Tesco ’ s focus on food waste did not grow up out of nowhere , but out of the
“ Enormous amounts of food are bein globally – at least 1.3 billion tonnes e
observance of a mounting problem . “ As research by the UN has shown , enormous amounts of food are being lost and wasted globally – at least 1.3 billion tonnes each year ,” says Tesco Commercial Director Matt Simister on the brand ’ s web page for its food waste prevention goals . “ Aside from the unnecessary pressure this puts on land and natural resources , together with the associated emission of greenhouse gases , this waste costs
24 October 2014