STAFF at Sainsbury’s supermarket at Merry Hill are urging charities to get in touch if they are interested in receiving food donations.

The food donation scheme is aimed at charities and organisations that could benefit from receiving surplus fresh food products that would otherwise go to waste such as bread from the in-store bakery, milk and fresh fruit and vegetables.

Natalie Jacombs, store manager at Sainsbury’s Merry Hill, said: “Donating our surplus food is a great way of supporting local charities and also reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.

"Very often at the end of each day there is perfectly good food left over that has reached its display-by date, but is still within the use-by date.

“Where this happens we would rather give this food to charities for free than see it go to waste, so we are advocating linking up with a local charity to donate this surplus food to them.

“We would urge any charitable group that provides meals for people and who may be interested in receiving food donations to get in touch.”

The supermarket chain has been involved in donating food to charities since 1998.

Any borough charities interested in the scheme can call the store’s PR ambassador Yvonne Artiss on 01384 480887 or email prl.merryhill@sainsburys.co.uk