Iceland announces 23% food waste reduction

Iceland has launched its Food Waste Report 2019/20, announcing a reduction in food waste in its own operations by nearly a quarter (23.2%) in the past two years, reducing the amount wasted by almost 2,500 tonnes.

The announcement comes twelve months after DEFRA’s Food Waste Champion Ben Elliot called on businesses to ‘step up to the plate’ and drive forward plans to cut food waste. Iceland has done this using the ‘target, measure, act’ approach set out in the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap launched in 2018 by WRAP and the IGD.

Furthermore, and in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal SDG 12.3, Iceland has publicly committed to a 50% reduction of food waste across its operations by 2030.

In 2019/20, Iceland sold over 1.3m tonnes of food to its customers and sent zero food to landfill, instead donating it to local communities, converting it into animal feed or as a last resort processing it into energy through anaerobic digestion. The retailer has donated 157.8 tonnes of surplus food, equivalent to almost 375,000 meals, to people in need through a network of community partnerships and initiatives.

As a next step, Iceland has also announced a national rollout of a successful 100-store trial which will see surplus food given to store colleagues at closing time each day. The trial will be rolled out over the coming months, offering colleagues in nearly 1,000 stores the option of taking food home or donating to a local charity or cause.

Read the full press release here.

Read our Food Waste Report 2019/20 here.