
On 25th January, Musgrave, Ireland’s leading food retail and wholesale company, furthered its commitment to reducing food waste by signing the Government’s Food Waste Charter, which is focused on a common approach to the issue of food waste across the retail sector.
The Food Waste Charter aligns with our commitment to halving our food surplus by 2030 in line with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. It also builds on our work to date and our ongoing commitment to ensuring that no food that is fit for human consumption is wasted, but is instead used to alleviate food poverty through our support for food re-distribution charities such as Foodcloud.
We are also sharing food waste reduction guidelines with the more than 1,400 independent retail partners that operate our SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak brands in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Spain. We will continue to provide consumers with information on how to reduce food waste in their homes.
Welcoming the initiative, Chris Martin, CEO Musgrave said:
“Musgrave, as Ireland’s largest community retailer, is committed to building sustainable communities and supporting consumers to make better purchasing decisions. For over 140 years, our business has been based on a long-term, sustainable approach, with community at the core. With a business of our scale, we recognise our responsibility to make positive impact on the world around us. This means sustainability is integral to doing the right thing by our people, our communities and our business.
We are glad to further our ongoing commitment to tackling food waste by signing this Food Waste Charter today. I commend Minister Naughten, his officials and the EPA for their foresight in establishing the Retail Action Group on Food Waste to prioritise the issue at a national level, and thank the members and Chair of the Group for their engagement to date.
We look forward to engaging with the Government on this and other initiatives into the future, as we continue to embed important sustainability principles into our businesses, and to make further positive impact on the communities in which we operate.”
Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Denis Naughten said: “Musgrave have taken on the challenge of food waste and made it a central element of their sustainability agenda. This illustrates their drive to identify innovative food waste reduction opportunities from the corporate to the store level. Taking part in the Retail Action Group highlights their commitment to collaborate in this area and encourage others to sign the Charter and work towards reducing food waste.”