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OPERATIONS FOOD WASTE CARRIES A SIGNIFICANT COST, SOCIALLY, ENVIRONMENTALLY AND ECONOMICALLY, AND IS A HUGE CHALLENGE FACING OUR SECTOR AND SOCIETY. ACCORDING TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S 2016 FUSION FOOD WASTE REPORT, EUROPEANS THROW OUT APPROXIMATELY 88 MILLION TONNES OF FOOD, WHICH REPRESENTS A LOSS OF AROUND €143 BILLION. According to the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organisation approximately one in three calories produced is wasted, at a time when we need to reduce our energy, water usage and carbon emissions. In Ireland, one in 11 families live in food poverty, with over one million tonnes of food wasted in Ireland per year.* Lidl Ireland/Northern Ireland | Sustainability Progress Report 2018/19 FOOD W To play our part in tackling food waste we operate a national food redistribution programme. Working in conjunction with FoodCloud, a social enterprise, we connected each of our stores to local charities to redistribute surplus food to reduce food waste and help feed people in need. Almost half of all donations made are fresh fruit and vegetables, supporting better health and nutrition within the charity and community groups that we support across the island of Ireland. In Ireland, we now donate 50,000 meals every month In Northern Ireland, we now donate 15,000 meals every month *Social Inclusion Monitor (2017), Department of Employment Affairs & Social Protection Resources and Agriculture Supply Chain and Processing Agricultural Inputs Cultivation & Harvesting Animal Keeping Production Processing Snack Strawberries After a visit to our strawberry supplier, our Fruit Buyer Gavin Byrne, found out that a sizeable amount of our top-quality strawberries had not been making it to our shelves because of their size. Gavin worked directly with the supplier to end this wastage and together they introduced Snack Strawberries! Snack Strawberries joined our everyday range and are now sold in all stores. OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS, LIDL IRELAND HAVE HELPED SUPPORT OVER 300 CHARITIES ACROSS IRELAND, REDISTRIBUTING APPROX. 480 TONNES OF SURPLUS FOOD FROM STORES AND DISTRIBUTION CENTRES THAT MIGHT OTHERWISE HAVE GONE TO WASTE. THIS FOOD REPRESENTS THE EQUIVALENT OF OVER €1.4 MILLION IN SAVINGS TO THE CHARITY SECTOR WHICH IS AN INCREDIBLE ACHIEVEMENT. AS TE page Highlight Transportation Logistics Centre Transportation Stores and Services Purchase Usage Disposal Operations and Processes Customer and Society Iseult Ward, CEO FoodCloud 43