Introduced across 1,000 stores this September, any surplus but still edible food will be offered to users of the Too Good to Go app in the form of surprise bags. These bags can be purchased from the retailer and can contain anything from chilled items and ready meals to fresh prepared fruit or salads and bakery products.
Sam Dickson – Asda vice president for commercial strategy, operations and own brand – said: “We’re delighted to be bringing Too Good to Go to more sites across our estate and our food service partners, as we remain committed to reducing food waste through innovative solutions. We’ve already seen great uptake from customers using Too Good to Go, and experienced the impact it can make towards reducing food waste.
Playing an important role
“Alongside our existing food waste reduction partners, Too Good to Go will play an important role in continuing the progress we’ve made to date in minimising waste and supporting customers, communities and charities.”
‘Surprise Bags’ from Asda Supermarkets will be available for £3.30 and will include minimum £9 worth of goods. The rollout follows a successful trial across a number of Asda’s supermarkets, convenience stores and foodservice sites.
Since forming the original partnership with Too Good To Go in 2021 through the former EG Group convenience sites, more than 2,000,000 kilograms of perfectly good food has been saved from going to waste.
Too Good to Go UK and Ireland country director Sophie Trueman added: “Our team is absolutely thrilled to be rolling out our partnership with Asda, helping to combat food waste and provide great value to customers.
‘Win-win-win’
“At Too Good to Go we believe that saving food from going to waste is a win-win-win - businesses can recover the sunk cost of would-be wasted food, consumers can get good food for less, and with one simple action, we’re collectively doing something great for the planet by stopping that food from ending up in landfill.”
The addition of Too Good To Go to Asda’s partnership pool followed the expansion of Asda’s ‘back of store’ food donation scheme in June, which saw the retailer enter into a new three-way partnership with long-standing food redistribution charity FareShare and local food sharing app Olio.
Meanwhile, Bethan Grylls sits down with BSI’s global managing director for consumer, retail and food, to discuss how food manufacturers are missing vital opportunities when it comes to reducing food waste.