UK – British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has introduced a range of fruit and vegetable boxes in an effort to reduce food waste.
Marketed as ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’, the £2 (US$2.41) boxes will be introduced at more than 200 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.
The rollout follows a successful trial last month and will be available for purchase at the retailer’s fresh produce aisles from this week.
According to Sainsbury’s, the ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’ boxes will include a variety of surplus fresh fruit and vegetables at a lower price.
Sainsbury’s fresh food director Richard Crampton said: “At Sainsbury’s, we’re committed to helping our customers access tasty, nutritious food that’s better for them and the planet too.
“It’s great to see that shoppers have been enjoying the ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’ boxes, which is why we’re pleased to roll out the trial to over 200 supermarkets, helping even more people across the country.
“We believe that everyone deserves to eat well at an affordable price, and we hope this additional support will ensure that good quality food doesn’t go to waste.”
In addition, the ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me’ boxes are part of Sainsbury’s efforts to halve the amount of food wasted across its value chain by 2030.
With the ‘Taste Me, Don’t Waste Me boxes,’ Sainsbury’s is following in the footsteps of other brands, like Morrison’s, who debuted similar boxers back in 2019, and Aldi, who announced they would roll out ‘Magic Bags’ priced at £3.30 earlier this month.
This comes as part of Sainsbury’s commitment to halve food waste across its value chain by 2030, following on from its decision last year to remove ‘best before’ dates from over 100 product lines and an additional 130 lines to follow.
In December last year, Sainsbury’s announced plans to eliminate single-use plastic lids across its range of own-brand dip pots.
From next year, the retailer will no longer include single-use plastic lids on products such as guacamole, tzatziki and sour cream and chive dips.
CHEP’s partnership to reduce pallet movements
Elsewhere, Sainsbury’s has partnered with supply chain specialist CHEP to eliminate unnecessary pallet movements.
The result of the link-up between CHEP and Sainsbury’s Distribution Centre in Daventry has resulted in over 1,000 trucks off the road and saved nearly 25,000 transport miles in the process.
As part of its transport solutions support, CHEP has been working with Sainsbury’s to find ways to increase the efficiency and sustainability of its supply chain to save transport miles and Co2.
The team looked at the elimination of unnecessary pallet movements, reducing collections and delivery distances and provision of an onsite pallet supply.
Alongside this in-store, CHEP provided Q+ wheeled display pallets to support promotions. The CHEP team also inspects one million plus pallets a year for Daventry to keep the circular economy moving.
Alejandro Tostado, senior director of EU sustainability at CHEP said: “The results of the collaboration so far are promising. Together we’ve saved 35 tonnes of CO2, taken 1087 trucks off the road, and averted 24,991 kilometers of mileage between the Daventry Distribution Centre and CHEP Birmingham.
“This shows what can be achieved when we come together with a common aim in a sector where it’s imperative to reduce our environmental footprint.”
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