Signing up for app will help to cut food waste

BUSINESSES in Derby’s Cathedral and St Peters quarters are being encouraged to join an initiative to reduce the city’s food waste.

If they sign up for social impact company Too Good to Go’s app, their customers will be able to buy discounted bags of surplus food and drink.

Businesses within the two business improvement districts (BID) can sign up to the scheme free for a year with their BID memberships.

On the app, Co-op is offering a “magic bag” of pantry staples worth £12 for £4 from locations throughout the city. Greggs is offering a bag of sandwiches, bakes and sweet treats for £2.59, discounted from £8.

Some 5,000 local users have used the app 700,000 times so far from the 20 city-based outlets. Nationwide, it has 6.2 million users.

A statement from Derby City Council said: “Research shows that food waste is directly responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions. However, by selling three magic bags a day for a year, it is estimated that a business would reduce food waste by nearly 11,000 kg, save 27,000kg of CO2 and save £30,000 in waste disposal costs.”

Coffee business BEAR, in Iron Gate, has already joined the scheme. Co-founder Craig Bunting said: “Even though we’ve been slowed down by lockdown, so far we’ve managed to rescue well over 1,000 meals and reduced around 2500 kg of CO2.

“It’s such a brilliant initiative for businesses to reduce their environmental impact and for customers to try out yummy goodies at a lower price.”