Iceland redistributes over 3.5 million meals to local communities

As part of food waste reduction efforts, Iceland Foods has redistributed 3.5 million meals since January 2022 to local communities, including one million meals in partnership with Olio.

The supermarket has said that this has surpassed its target to redistribute three million meals by the end of the financial year.

Looking specifically at the two weeks over the Christmas period in 2022, Iceland claims that it redistributed 100 tonnes of food, a figure equivalent to over 263,524 meals.

To reduce the amount of food it wastes. the company has said that it does not send any unsold food to landfill, instead it “aims to put [it] to good use in the community”. As well as working with Olio, a food distribution app, Iceland says that surplus food is offered free of charge to store colleagues, converted into animal feed, or as a last resort, used to produce electricity and compost through anaerobic digestion.

“In total, so far Iceland has saved up to 1,518 tonnes worth of food – weighing the equivalent to seven blue whales or 125 double decker buses,” says the supermarket.

“As part of Iceland’s commitment to Doing it Right, we are dedicated to doing our part to fight food waste. We are thankful to be able to work with partners such as Olio to support local communities with food that otherwise would have gone to waste,” said Richard Walker, Executive Chairman, Iceland Foods.

Tesco’s partnership with Olio stops 30 million meals going to waste

“We have committed to reducing food and drink waste by 50 percent by 2030, and it is great to see we are on track to achieve our goals, as taking action against food waste remains one of our top priorities.”

Commenting on Iceland and Olio’s partnership, Tessa Clarke, co-founder and CEO of Olio, said: “We couldn’t be prouder to be working alongside Iceland’s 950+ stores to fight food waste and feed communities across the UK, especially while the rising cost of living means so many are going hungry.

“We’d love to see more businesses following Iceland’s example and committing to zero edible food waste across their operations.”

Since teaming up, Iceland & Olio have reportedly donated 594,377kg worth of edible food, feeding 50,063 families. In addition, working together has meant that both companies have worked towards a “more sustainable economy”, claiming 2,190,125kg worth of CO2 emissions have been saved.

Looking to the end of 2023, Iceland say that it is on track to redistribute over four million meals to local communities by the end of the financial year.