A major UK supermarket has announced it will introduce a new practice across all its stores. Lidlhas launched a new food waste reduction target for Food Waste Action Week.

It passed its 2025 goal of 40% food waste reduction, so the supermarket has now raised its target from 50% to 70% by 2030. Lidlis extending its partnership with Neighbourly to trial the charity's Surplus Saviours3 initiative, a redistribution scheme that enables registered individuals to collect unsold surplus food. With extended collection times and access to fresh and chilled items approaching their useby date, this summer's trial in the Midlands is expected to redistribute more than 5,000 ton of food to those in need. If the trial goes well, the supermarket is believed to be rolling it out across its over 1,000 UK stores, according to The Grocer. Lidlis also planning a new animal feed trial in Peterborough. It will see inedible fresh bakery lines, including everything from croissants to bread loaves, diverted to produce animal feed.

Matt Juden-Bloomfield, head of sustainability at Lidl GB, said: "At Lidl, we set ambitious targets that challenge how we operate and inspire innovation when it comes to food waste. We've made good strides, but we know we can do more.

"With that in mind, we have increased our targets to ensure we remain accountable and also introduced some exciting new trials to take things to the next level.

"We remain committed to accelerating our progress in this space and collaborating closely with our industry peers to drive lasting impact for both the environment and the communities we are at the heart of."

Commenting on the partnership, Estelle Herszenhorn, Director of food system transformation at global environmental action NGO WRAP, said: "For the past 10 years, Lidl GB has been an active and engaged signatory of WRAP's UK Food & Drink Pact.

"It has been fantastic seeing them offer loose fruits and vegetables and adopting best practice labelling. Both practices help shoppers reduce their household food waste.

"In-store, Lidl GB's initiative on matching bakery products with demand aligns with WRAP's priority of preventing food waste before it occurs. We are delighted to see increased paths for redistribution where food is surplus - a move WRAP also encourages."

The supermarket's in-store bakery has been one of the ways Lidl has achieved its current food waste target.

By aligning product volume more closely with demand throughout the day, it reduced bakery-related food waste by 30% last year. To further help prevent food waste, the Lidl Plus app offers customers 20% off all in-store bakery items after 7pm.

Since 2016, Lidl GB has also donated 50 million meals by redistributing high-quality surplus food through its Feed it Back scheme, delivered in partnership with Neighbourly.=