Joining the Breakfast Club

Simon Stabler does his bit to fight food waste

Approximately 9.5 million tonnes of food waste was produced in the UK in 2018, of which, 6.4 million tonnes – roughly 15 billion meals – could have been eaten. In the same year, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the charity that uncovered those figures, and the Institute of Grocery (IGD), launched the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, a series of milestones for retailers, producers, and hospitality and food service businesses to reduce food waste.

Among the 261 signatories to the roadmap is bakery chain Greggs, a company that has pledged to put an end to food waste and, by 2025, aims to create 25% less waste than in 2018. Ways of achieving this include the company’s use of a highly efficient forecasting and ordering system, offering food donations to organisations through its grant-making charity the Greggs Foundation, and opening up more Greggs Outlet shops in areas of social deprivation, where day-old products are offered at bargain prices.

It’s also one of 21,579 UK businesses partnering with Too Good to Go, the mobile phone app that connects customers to cafes, restaurants and shops with unsold food surplus. Over the course of 2021, Too Good to Go helped Greggs save more than 810 tonnes of food from going to waste.