Lidl GB is expanding its ‘Good to Give’ trustmark to now include hygiene products, in an effort to tackle rising levels of hygiene poverty across the UK.
From today, shoppers will be able to spot Good to Give signage on 10 essential sanitary and personal care items – including tampons, toothpaste and nappies.
These can be dropped at existing donation points located past the checkouts in all Lidl GB stores, and will be collected by charity volunteers weekly.
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The German discounter originally launched the scheme in partnership with giving platform Neighbourly last year to help diversify and increase food bank donations nationwide.
Since introducing the Good to Give trustmark in June 2022, Lidl has seen in-store customer food donations for local charities increase by an estimated 25% – the equivalent to over 250,000 additional meals between June and December 2022.
The move follows research revealing that demand for toiletries is now soaring alongside food, with 72% of local charities reporting both of these categories as being vital to support communities through the cost-of-living crisis.
Around 81% of teachers have said that there are children in their school who don’t have regular access to toothpaste, whilst it has been reported that one in two children isolate themselves because of oral hygiene issues.
This support from customers contributed to Lidl donating a total of over six million meals last year, including both donations and food surplus.
As demand for sanitary products begins to soar, Lidl is also providing £50,000 of grants for local organisations in its Neighbourly network to further help communities struggling with hygiene poverty.
“With the cost of living crisis continuing to put pressure on local communities, we want to go beyond our commitment to making good food accessible to everyone by looking at other support we can provide,” senior CSR manager at Lidl GB, Mark Newbold said.
He added: “Hygiene poverty is the daily reality for over 3.2 million adults in this country, and our charity partners working day in day out with those in need have told us that the problem is only growing.
“We hope that by providing grants and encouraging our customers to once again donate a little differently, we can get more local charities more of these basic yet vital products.”
It comes as Lidl reported last week that it is slowing new store openings until 2026, according to a construction graduate affected by recent property job cuts at the discounter.
