Aldi is celebrating a significant milestone in its partnership with surplus food and household products redistributor, Company Shop Group.
In the past year, the supermarket has now donated 2.5 million meals from its regional distribution centres across the UK through Company Shop Group’s Community Shop stores, saving an estimated 1,000 tonnes of food from going to waste.
This total includes an impressive 77,980 meals donated to people across Scotland from Aldi’s Bathgate hub, saving around 33 tonnes of food waste.
Community Shop is an award-winning social enterprise that supports 9,000 members and their families in some of the UK’s most deprived communities, by offering access to discounted products and reinvesting the revenue raised into its Community Kitchens and Hubs.
In just one year, the partnership has supported over 2,800 people through its Community Hub development programmes, which give individuals and communities the tools they need to live well and the skills to get them back into work.
It has also enabled more than 2,100 people to attend cooking lessons at the Community Kitchen’s Cook Clubs, where they can learn how to prepare nutritious family meals on a budget.
Liz Fox, National Sustainability Director at Aldi UK, said: “It’s incredible to look back at the results we’ve achieved from just one year with Company Shop Group – from saving tonnes of food from going to waste to supporting thousands of families in need. We are committed to making good quality food accessible to everyone. After all, it’s a right, not a privilege.
“We’re very excited to see what lies ahead for the partnership as we get closer to our new goal of reducing food waste in our own operations by 90% before 2030.”
