Sainsbury’s has partnered with Neighbourly in a new initiative to donate surplus food to local charities.  

Following a successful trial, the scheme will see the Neighbourly partner the Big 4 grocer with a network of charitable groups in need of food supplies.  

According to the distribution service, a range of charity partners will be coordinating a collection each day of ambient and fresh grocery products within their best-before date, which will be distributed to local good causes.  

The news comes as part of the retailer’s commitment to halve its food waste by 50 per cent by 2030. 

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The collaboration is set to connect the supermarket to approximately 17,000 local charities including homeless centres, refuges, churches, breakfast clubs and community centres in need of support.  

The scheme is expected to be rolled out across all Sainsbury’s locations by the end of this year.  

“We’re delighted to have partnered with Neighbourly to ensure we’re supporting people in our local communities through donations of surplus food from our stores,” Sainsbury’s group head of corporate responsibility and sustainability Ruth Cranston said.  

“We’re committed to reducing food waste and we’re really excited to be working with Neighbourly to help us with our mission.” 

Neighbourly chief executive Steve Butterworth added: “Sainsbury’s is genuinely committed to local action, and we’re pleased to be scaling up our partnership to help forge strong community collaboration between stores and their neighbourhood charity partners.”  

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