Hucknall Co-op customers help save more than 100,000 meals going to waste

More than 100,000 meals have now been saved from going to waste as a result of a partnership between retailer Central England Co-op (CEC) and the world’s largest food saving app, Too Good To Go.

The partnership, which sees CEC customers and members able to pick up a ‘magic bag’ of discounted food at the end of the day to help avoid food going to waste, recently celebrated its first anniversary and has now seen the 100,000 figure hit, equating to 250,000 kg of CO2e saved – the equivalent of 49 flights around the world.

CEC has rolled out the scheme across 260 food stores and the link-up with Too Good To Go works in tandem with CEC’s ground-breaking food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands, giving it an extra route to reducing food waste and help in its aim to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Customers and members with the free Too Good To Go mobile app can search for their local CEC store with unsold food and purchase a surprise magic bag – priced at £4 but containing at least £12 worth of food – before collecting at the allotted time.

Claire Koziol, head of trading operations at CEC, said: “Through our partnership with FareShare Midlands we already had a great process in place for the distribution of ‘best before’ products that had reached the end of their shelf life but could still be utilised by the projects FareShare supports across our communities.

“That, however, still left products approaching their sell-by date that ultimately would have to go in the bin if not sold in time.

"That is where Too Good To Go has really helped.

“These products are still high-quality items that customers want, and it is a great solution if people are able to utilise them the same day or can freeze them to use them at a later date.

The free Too Good To Go app can be downloaded from all mobile app stores.