Thornton’s Budgens food waste avoidance measures across the board

Type of practice Reduce

Name of practice Thornton’s Budgens food waste avoidance measures across the board

Name of main actor Thornton’s Budgens

Type of actor(s) Company

Location United Kingdom

Stage of implementation Retail

Year of implementation 2008

What was/is being done? Thornton's Budgens is an independently owned retail store in London’s Crouch End that has taken measures to reduce its food waste across the board. The store has already reached its target of sending zero food waste to landfill. Store owner Andrew Thornton's ambition is to ensure that all edible food that enters his store ends-up being eaten.

Outcomes and impacts • Since October 2011, the supermarket has an in-store hot food counter. An in-house chef, uses fresh ingredients from the store's shelves such as parsnips, peppers, aubergines and pulses that are approaching their sell-by date or are unlikely to be sold. He prepares delicious, fresh and nutritious meals like tagines, soups, curries and pickles. This has given the store a new market outlet for surplus food products. Bob's curries are very popular with customers, which means that this is an extra source of revenue for the store with very low costs. • Edible food surplus from the store that cannot be sold is donated to FoodCycle, a charity that runs a nearby community cafe. FoodCycle picks up the surplus food on a weekly basis and uses it to create nutritious meals for local communities. The cafe operates on a “pay what you can” scheme so everyone can enjoy a filling three-course meal. • The store also hosts Food from the Sky on its rooftop – a community project growing organic fruit and vegetables that are then sold in store. Non-edible food waste from the store is used to make compost for the garden, creating a closed loop system and providing hyper local food products, travelling only 10 metres from soil to shelf.