Tesco reiterates pledge to work with suppliers to cut waste

The supermarket has published this pledge in its new report entitled ‘Trading Responsibly’. In the report Tesco summarises how it is managing its supply chains. It also said it is improving relationships with its trading partners.

One of the areas the supermarket is working on is using its expertise to make improvements in its banana supply chain. It sells over 227,000 tonnes of bananas in the UK and Ireland every year, sourced from around nine countries around the world.

Tesco said that it is using state-of-the-art technology to track and regulate temperature during shipment. It added: “We then fix our ordering volumes a week in advance to help our ripeners plan ahead.

“We have introduced better in-store handling, improved our displays and given customers tips on how to store their bananas at home. Cutting waste is not only important for long-term sustainability, but also helps us to offer growers and customers a better price.”

Last year Tesco pledged to tackle food waste and end multi-buy promotions on large packs of bagged salads. It was the first retailer to pledge to disclose the volume of food it discards at its stores in order to tackle food waste.

The UK’s biggest retailers, including Asda, Sainsbury’s and Marks &Spencer have recently signed up to a commitment to collectively release regular figures on the amount of food discarded by stores from spring 2015.

Tesco Group Food commercial director Matt Simister said: “We’re working with our suppliers to cut waste at all stages of the journey from farm to fork.”

Liz Gyekye