Health foods and supplements retailer Holland & Barrett has announced it is rolling out new space in its stores dedicated to food past its best before date.
In an attempt to eliminate food waste across its business, bays in circa 800 stores will be filled with food deemed “too good to waste”, which will be sold at heavily discounted prices. Products, such as flour and dark chocolate, will be on sale for as little as 5p.
Baking products, nuts, herbs and spices, cereals, sports drinks and beauty products past their best before date will all be available as part of the initiative.
Holland & Barrett said the scheme, which it has trialled in some stores already, aims to take out all food waste from its operations. If successful in that mission, the retailer said it would save over 370,000 food items from landfill each year.
Ryan Lander, head of retail operations at Holland & Barrett, commented: “The trial earlier this year has shown us that our customers are happy to buy long shelf-life food like lentils, nuts and honey which are a little beyond their best before date.
“It’s really a win, win as it helps customers save money and goes a little way to helping save our planet at the same time.”
The decision comes ahead of sustainability charity Wrap’s inaugral food waste action week, planned for March 2021, during which it wants to “wake the nation up to the environmental consequences of wasting food”.
Other eco moves by Holland & Barrett include banning plastic bags in its stores in 2010, and introducing a 5p charge on paper bags to encourage customers to think twice about their single-use bag usage.
And new store formats have been launched by the retailer in Chelmsford and Farnham, with each shop refitted with 100% recyclable materials in an move to be more environmentally friendly.
Other features of those reinvented stores include buzzers near the point of sale terminals, to ensure customers can alert sales assistants when they need some advice. There are also ‘contactless’ click & collect drawers, meaning shoppers picking up online orders can self-serve by scanning a QR code with their smartphones.
[Image credit: Jake Darling Photography: website: www.jakedarling.co.uk]
