Aldi to donate food to charity on Christmas Eve

Aldi has launched its festive food donations scheme and is calling on charities and food banks to register so that they can receive free donations this Christmas.

The supermarket chain is aiming to redistribute all surplus fresh food from its 775 UK stores to local charities on Christmas Eve.

As part of the scheme, charities and good causes will be paired with local stores and can collect perishable products such as fruit, vegetables, fresh meat, fish and bread after the store closes at 6pm.

Aldi is hoping this year’s scheme will surpass the 450,000 meals donated to more than 300 charities across the UK last Christmas.

Charities should contact Aldi’s corporate responsibility team at Christmas@aldi.co.uk before Sunday November 18 with the following details to apply:

Organisation name, charity number, organisation focus (eg, soup kitchen, food bank), contact details and the postcode of the three nearest Aldi stores (using the Aldi store finder - https:// www.aldi.co.uk/store-finder).

All charities that apply must be able to collect, store and distribute fresh food. Each store can be partnered with one charity only, and the pairings will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Fritz Walleczek, managing director of corporate responsibility, said: ‘We’re starting our festive donations scheme even earlier this year to give as many charities as possible the opportunity to apply.

‘We want to give something back to the communities that we serve at such an important time of year. Last year we were able to reach thousands of people across the UK, and some charities were even able to prepare fresh meals that fed families well into the New Year.’

This is an extension of Aldi’s existing food donations partnerships. The supermarket works directly with FareShare and Company Shop throughout the year and has also pledged to reduce operational food waste by 50 per cent by 2030 as part of the Friends of Champions 12.3 network.