Iceland is giving away unsold food to customers for free to prevent wastage

Iceland has launched a new free food initiative that gives away produce at the end of its shelf life for free in a bid to prevent food waste. 

The frozen food retailer claims its ‘Free on Last Day of Life’ initiative has the potential to give away more than 1.3 million items worth £500,000 a year to its customers while also cutting back on food waste – all food items ordered and delivered by Iceland have previously had a shelf life of at least two days.

The scheme has been launched across 1,000 of its stores following a successful trial in forty sites, which saw over 17,000 items given away for free and customers receiving an average refund of £1.58 per order.

The process is simple and doesn’t require any extra effort from the customer; If an item ordered is the only one left and has the same day date, it will be scanned, labelled and placed in the shopping cart as normal. The customer will then be made aware of the free item ahead of delivery and will not be charged the original price.

Fresh, chilled, baked, cakes and morning produce are all included in the scheme.

Iceland Foods managing director, Richard Walker said: “Reducing food waste is a huge priority for us as we continue to reduce our impact on the environment.

Alwyn Ladell / Flickr

“We know that shelf life plays a big role in the creation of surplus food so we to have find an innovative way to combat this within our stores and via our online shopping.

“Our Free on Last Day of Life scheme not only helps reduce food waste but also supports our customers.

“We know cost is key to many of our shoppers and this new initiative allows us to offer them the opportunity to reduce their weekly shopping bills as well as helping to reduce food waste.”

The scheme is available both online and in store now; you can find your closest Iceland supermarket here.