Food factories are the second highest source of food waste after households, according to the food waste charity WRAP*. This typically happens because of overproduction, imperfections, mis-labelling or because the food runs out of shelf life. 

The food – amounting to another 800 tonnes or 2 million meals a year** – will come from a range of Morrisons food-making sites, distribution centres, and UK suppliers. The range of products donated will include fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, prepared food and bread. 

TBBT will redistribute it to families in need of healthy and nutritious meals. Its research found 80 per cent of adults who received food from TBBT are skipping meals themselves to feed their families1. 

So far, the partnership has enabled TBBT to double its reach from its Greater Manchester origins. A second TBBT warehouse opened in County Durham in November 2020, new vans will take the fleet to 10, and over 50 hubs are expected to be operational across the North of England by mid 2021. Morrisons support will enable the charity to expand nationally to 100 locations by the start of 2022.

Steven Butts, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Morrisons, said: “Reducing food waste is important to our customers, colleagues and shareholders. We’ve made very strong progress in reducing waste in our supermarkets over many years. But there is still more to do behind the scenes and this extension of our partnership with TBBT will mean that they can do even more for families around the UK while at the same time helping us further reduce wasted food." 

Mark Game, CEO TBBT, said: "We've all faced enormous challenges this year and we could not have done it without Morrisons' continued support and the heroic efforts of its team to keep its surplus food coming to us in addition to feeding the nation during this tumultuous time. I'm enormously grateful to Morrisons and all its staff for helping us to keep our members fed with quality, nutritious food which, for a whole variety of reasons, couldn't be sold.

"We work in some of the UK's most deprived communities. The financial savings for people using our service are significant, people eat better quality and a bigger variety of food, and we save tonnes of surplus edible food from going to waste. It's a win/win solution for everyone. Morrisons have been a major supporter since our launch in 2016, and I'm excited that this new, extended partnership will enable us to grow nationwide.”

Morrisons has pledged to reduce operational food waste by 50% by 2030. To date the supermarket has launched the biggest Wonky fruit and veg range, has donated surplus food from every store, and offers boxes of veg, bakery and deli items for just £3.09 via the Too Good to Go App. Since 2015 Morrisons stores have also given surplus food to local good causes - totalling 3.5 tonnes last year. 

Morrisons has 18 of its own food making sites - preparing meat, fruit, veg, fish, bakery and fresh food products, plus six distribution centres. The supermarket is the largest fresh food manufacturer in the UK, and makes more than half of the fresh food sold in its stores. 

For more information, visit: Morrisons.com

 

* Households produce 70% of food waste and food manufacturing produces 16%. Hospitality and retail follow. 

** By 2022