Planet
Waste
Food Waste
As a food retailer, we have a role in ensuring that food doesn’t go to waste. We recognise the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions that food waste accounts for and are working hard to reduce the amount of food waste that our sites produce.
Reducing food waste begins at the source of food production. We continue to work closely with sites in order to ensure that the volume of food that is produced and/or ordered does not exceed forecasted demand and, where possible, adapt our menus to reduce wastage
Any surplus food that is not sold via Too Good To Go or donated to FareShare and is therefore wasted, is removed from site and disposed of anaerobically.
Too Good To Go Partnership
We are proud to have held a partnership with Too Good To Go since 2021. Too Good To Go is the world’s largest surplus food app, and helps to prevent food waste by enabling customers to purchase surplus food in the form of “magic bags” directly from our sites.
Floral magic bags are also available for sale from a number of our Waitrose & Partners Stores.
Since joining Too Good To Go, over 219,000 magic bags have been distributed. This is equivalent to 591.98 tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided from being released into the atmosphere.
11 of our brands participate in To Good To Go, as well as 18 of our hotels and a number of our forecourts.
FareShare Donations
Since May 2023, we have worked alongside KFC to extend their food redistribution partnership with FareShare to our sites. The partnership helps to deliver surplus food from KFC restaurants to people in need and, in turn, prevents it from going to waste.
Coffee Grounds
Our Starbucks units offer free bags of used coffee grounds to our customers, which can be used to enrich their gardens and compost. Coffee grounds are offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Waste and Recycling
We work to ensure that there are as many recycling opportunities available to our customers and team members as possible on site. For example, we offer opportunities to recycle small electrical waste, namely disposable vapes and batteries, at each of our sites.
In 2024, we invested in new recycling stations at our two sites in Wales. These stations offer customers the opportunity to segregate their waste into 6 separate streams, including paper (fibre-based composite) cups.
Biffa
Biffa is our waste partner and helps us to dispose of our waste responsibly across our roadside service area network. All wastage is disposed of in line with current legislation. We work with our waste partner, Biffa, to increase the amount of our waste that is recycled and/or sent for anaerobic digestion.