Central Co-op has partnered with Retail Insight, leveraging its WasteInsight solution to prevent 8,800 tonnes of food waste from reaching landfill over the past three years.

Having worked with the in-store execution software provider since 2021, Central Co-op uses Retail Insight‘s AI-powered markdown technology to cut food waste and contribute towards its ESG efforts across its 257 food stores.

Tapping the solution’s capabilities across forecasting, expiration management, dynamic markdowns and even food donation to prevent surplus food being wasted, the retailer is able to improve its full food waste lifecycle. This has culminated in almost 21 million meals being saved – preventing an equivalent 23,750 tonnes of Co2 being emitted – over the past three years.

“Reducing food waste is a key part of our journey to net-zero,” said Ben Grove, Senior Operational Excellence Manager at Central Co-op. “Partnering with Retail Insight has enabled us to make a real difference – cutting carbon, keeping good food in circulation and offering better value to our customers.”

“Central Co-op’s clear commitment to sustainability and innovation shines through in their willingness to embed waste reduction into store operations,” said Kieran O’Brien, EMEA VP for Customer Success at Retail Insight.

Following the successes already seen with WasteInsight, Central Co-op will continue to explore additional gains that can be delivered as part of the partnership, including sell-through, labour efficiency and inventory accuracy.

Earlier this year, Lincolnshire Co-op also hit a significant ESG milestone as part of its sustainability commitments, saving almost 1.8million tonnes of food waste by partnering with Retail Insight, while East of England Co-op saw 1.8million meals saved using the same solution.