Sainsbury’s has dropped its Waste Less, Save More Campaign, according to media reports, and will extend its focus beyond food waste to address the “wider concerns of their customers” under the ‘Live Well for Less’ banner, according to Hubbub.
The Waste Less, Save More project was launched in 2015 to explore why consumers throw away food and help them reduce it and ultimately save money.
The results of the evaluation revealed that the Swadlincote project – which saw the town used as a “testbed” for food waste reduction ideas – had achieved only a single-digit percentage reduction (which has not been officially published but is believed to be 9%), according to The Guardian.
A spokesperson from Sainsbury’s said: “We found our customers’ priorities have changed and broadened, which is why reducing food waste now forms one part of an even bigger ambition to help our customers ‘live well’ in every aspect of their lives.”
Hubbub’s Trewin Restorick – “We believe that this is a pressing issue as UK households collectively waste £13bn of food each year, over half of which could be avoided”
Hubbub has been partnering with Sainsbury’s for two years exploring new ways to help people reduce food waste.
“We believe that this is a pressing issue as UK households collectively waste £13bn of food each year, over half of which could be avoided,” said Hubbub’s Trewin Restorick.
“Hubbub has been proud to partner with Sainsbury’s in the UK’s most in-depth behaviour change study with a single community to test how we can make a difference.
“The experiment has launched some significant new approaches to reducing food waste including the fast growing Community Fridge Network and the Fab Food education programme. Equally importantly it highlighted less successful approaches such as intensive door-knocking campaigns.
“The successful elements of the Swadlincote experiment have been expanded to over 30 new communities who have received investment from Sainsbury’s of just under £1m. Hubbub is working with these communities to assess the impact of their activities and the full results will be available in August.
“Waste less, Save more has demonstrated once again that household food waste is a complex and entrenched issue with multiple causes. There will be no single magic bullet to resolve this, but every 1% saving nationwide represents £130m of food saved.
“Hubbub will be using the lessons gathered from Waste less, Save more to inform our ongoing work to drive behaviour change and reduce waste. At the forefront of this will be the Community Fridge Network which will be operating in over 50 communities by the end of the summer.”
The news follows reports last year that the supermarket intended to drop the Waste less, Save more Swadlincote experiment, which it rebuffed as “inaccurate”.
