Lincolnshire Co-op partners with Retail Insight to save 2.1 million meals from landfill

Lincolnshire Co-op has extended its partnership with Retail Insight, the provider of in-store execution software, for an additional four years, as it looks to further reduce food waste across its store estate.  As part of the extended partnership, Lincolnshire Co-op will roll out an enhanced version of Waste Trim, the latest feature of Retail Insight’s WasteInsight platform, which uses a data-led model to optimise stock assortment, minimise overstocking and further cut food waste.

Lincolnshire Co-op is an independent co‑operative, which has been serving its local community for over 160 years, offering a wide range of services from its family of businesses.  Owned by its 300,000 members, Lincolnshire Co-op now operates 218 stores within the region, including its Food and Pharmacy stores, Post Office branches and Travel, Funeral and Floristry services.

Looking after the local environment is one of Lincolnshire Co-op’s core purposes and it aims to make recycling easier for customers, while reducing the volume of waste it produces.  As well as recycling schemes, swapping carrier bags to 100 percent compostable and moving 100 percent of its own-brand packaging to easily recyclable materials, Lincolnshire Co-op has reduced food waste by 37 percent by offering mark-downs on food items nearing expiry.

Since 2021, the co-operative has partnered with Retail Insight, leveraging its WasteInsight platform, to optimise markdowns and reduce food waste.  Using a dynamic, data-led model to optimise price reductions, the solution has helped Lincolnshire Co-op cut food waste, allowing it to maximise sustainability efforts and streamline waste management processes – all while selling more.

Last year alone, Lincolnshire Co-op reported a 90.8 percent sell-through rate using the WasteInsight solution, which prevented 2.1million meals from being wasted and resulted in the prevention of 5,700 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

Lincolnshire Co-op is also making use of the first version of Retail Insight’s Waste Trim feature which analyses historical data, sales patterns and expiration dates to highlight and identify products or ranges that are regularly wasted.  These insights allow Lincolnshire Co-op to optimise stock assortment, minimise overstocking on frequently wasted items and, ultimately, reduce food waste.

Looking ahead, Lincolnshire Co-op will roll-out an enhanced version of Waste Trim to further its data-driven waste-management capabilities to continue to drive down food waste and its associated environmental impacts.

Craig Adamson, Head of Food at Lincolnshire Co-op, commented: “The WasteInsight platform has been instrumental in our efforts to reduce food waste.  Retail Insight’s Waste Trim feature will help revolutionise our approach to inventory management and has significantly contributed to our sustainability goals.  We look forward to realising further benefits with the enhanced version of the tool.”

Jessica Westwell, Customer Success Manager at Retail Insight, added: “Working with Lincolnshire Co-op has been a great experience, and we are thrilled to continue supporting them in their journey towards reducing food waste.”