MARKS and Spencer has curated a garlic bread initiative to reduce in-store food waste, which is coming to Bournemouth.

At the end of each day, unsold bakery loaves are prepared and filled with garlic butter by in-store bakery colleagues, before being frozen to extend shelf life by 40 days. 

Castlepoint and Blandford customers can choose from a garlic baguette or boule, San Francisco sourdough garlic bread, or West Country cheddar and red Leicester garlic cob.

Helen Snelgrove, store manager at M&S Castlepoint, said: “We believe each loaf is too good to waste, and our customers agree.

“By getting creative, we’ve found a way to extend shelf life and create new delicious products for our customers – at great value, too, for £1.”

Catherine David, director of collaboration and change at WRAP, said: “It’s great to see a simple and effective idea grow this way and become a big hit with shoppers. Our latest household food waste research shows that bread is the second most wasted food in UK homes with the equivalent of more than one million loaves binned daily.”

As part of its efforts to tackle food waste in-store, M&S also launched 25p banana bags in 2021 to encourage customers to buy ripe bananas.

The retailer also partners with Neighbourly, whereby any edible food surplus from stores is redistributed to local causes and community groups.