TESCO and FareShare in Bordon are calling on charities and community groups in the area to register for a new scheme which will see unsold food given away at the end of the day.

The store, in the High Street, has pledged to reduce food waste and will be paving the way for spare food to become meals for vulnerable people across the town.

This comes as campaigns to stop big UK stores throwing food away are prominent in the mainstream, with programmes like BBC One’s Hugh’s War on Waste highlighting the huge amount of edible produce that ends up in bins.

The process is simple: Tesco’s Community Food Connection programme with FareShare FoodCloud recruits and supports charities and community groups, linking them to Tesco branches via a new app that allows store teams to alert them to surplus unsold food items available at the end of each day.

The unsold food is free and includes fresh produce, such as fruit, vegetables and bakery products. Chilled products like meat, dairy and ready meals are also offered.

There have been 350,000 meals donated to people in need via Community Food Connection to date, following a successful pilot in 14 stores last year and a national rollout from March this year, that has seen more than 1,000 charities sign up to the scheme so far.

FareShare FoodCloud is the result of a “unique three-way partnership”, bringing “the charity, social enterprise and commercial sectors together”.

FareShare brings its knowledge of the UK charity food redistribution market and its experience of providing food. FoodCloud brings its knowledge of the technology and online applications needed to connect businesses with surplus food. And Tesco brings the people and technology required to deliver a reliable and well-managed programme, and is the first retailer to invest in, and roll out, FareShare FoodCloud.

East Hampshire’s FareShare scheme is based in Bordon, working closely with the Furniture Helpline.

“No food that can be eaten should go to waste,” said Rachel Finn, head of community food programmes at Tesco.

“We’re really excited to start working on this initiative to ensure that any unsold food we have is made use of. We are looking forward to forging strong links with local charities and community groups in Bordon, and to use this initiative to support their efforts to help vulnerable people in our community.”

FareShare FoodCloud is the latest step in Tesco’s work with FareShare nationally on the provision of surplus food. The partnership spans over three years and includes activities which make food available from the Tesco supply chain, distribution centres and dotcom centres. This has seen nine million meals made up of surplus food donated to over 2,200 charities and community groups across the UK.

Earlier this year, Tesco also launched its Perfectly Imperfect range of “wonky” fruit and veg - said to be a direct response to public resistance to supply-chain waste, driven by high aesthetic standards set by supermarkets which see farmers throw many tons of perfectly edible food away.

Any charities or community groups in Bordon using food to support people, which would like to access the scheme should register their interest by visiting www.fareshare.org.uk/fareshare-foodcloud.

Meanwhile, another food initiative has been launched recently, with Tesco offering children free fruit while their parents are shopping in store, as a “little help” to get kids eating more healthily.

The initiative, which is being launched in over 800 Tesco stores across the UK, including in Bordon, is aimed at “creating healthy eating habits among kids that will stay with them as they grow up”.

Participating stores will have a selection of fruits available - including apples, soft citrus and bananas - for parents to take and give to their children.