Frozen food specialist Iceland has reduced food waste by 23.2 per cent in the past two years, diverting 2,500 tonnes of waste from landfill.

The retailer, which has stores in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud, has done this using the 'target, measure, act' approach set out in the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap launched in 2018 by WRAP.

And in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal, Iceland has committed to a 50 per cent reduction of food waste across its operations by 2030.

To further cut waste, Iceland will now offer surplus food to colleagues at nearly 1000 stores to take home at the end of the day, or donate to a local charity.

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 to people in need through a network of community partnerships and initiatives.

Richard Walker, Managing Director of Iceland, said: "Tackling food waste is high on our agenda as one of our many commitments to reduce our impact on the environment. We've worked with communities, colleagues and customers to make significant reductions and I am delighted that we have been able to make great strides in reducing our food waste footprint over the past two years.

"We're continuing to innovate and find new ways to reduce the amount of food wasted across our operations, and our trial to give food to our colleagues is just one of the next steps we'll be taking to build on our progress so far. I'm looking forward to seeing this in action across our stores and working with colleagues to take the next steps in our food waste reduction journey."