Marks and Spencer has donated the equivalent of 100 million meals in surplus food from its stores to good causes, via its partnership with Neighbourly, over the last decade, the retailer has announced.

The tie-up with the community investment platform has prevented over 49,000 tonnes of good quality food from going to waste since 2015. This has contributed to M&S’s target of 100% of edible surplus food to be redistributed by 2025/26, as part of its ‘Plan A’ roadmap to net zero.

This year alone, the partnership has seen over 30 million meals donated – the highest ever in the decade-long partnership.

In the next phase of the upmarket retailers collaboration with Neighbourly, it is trialling a new surplus food initiative which allows individual collectors to pick up donations to redistribute within communities.

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The initiative, which specifically supports the 2% of stores that don’t have a regular charity partner to donate to, is set to significantly increase the amount of fresh surplus food reaching those who need it most.

The new programme is currently rolling out to an additional 50 stores around the UK, and has already enabled M&S colleagues to redistribute the equivalent of more than 30,000 meals.

M&S Food head of sustainability Lucinda Langton said: “This initiative not only helps tackle food waste and supports us in reaching our Plan A goals, but also makes a real difference to those who need it most.

“None of this would be possible without the dedication of our incredible store colleagues, whose commitment and passion has already helped over 4.7 million people and will continue to provide even more support with the expansion of the individual collector programme.”