Morrisons to combat food waste by giving out free ‘wonky’ carrots for Christmas

Morrisons is giving away 10,000 wonky carrots to customers this Christmas in a bid to tackle food waste.

The supermarket will be handing out bags of free British carrots to shoppers in 498 stores across the UK from 22 December.

The bags will be labelled ‘Carrots for Rudolph’, a play on the festive tradition of leaving out treats for Father Christmas and his reindeer on Christmas Eve.

But the move is also intended to encourage people to buy ‘wonky’ vegetables throughout the whole year.

According to the grocer, its carrot sales soar during the holiday season, from an average 500kg bags a week to over 1.4 million in Christmas week. However, wonky carrots only account for 10% to 15% of total sales.

“Leaving out a carrot for Rudolph is a magical Christmas tradition and we want to make it easy for our customers to get involved,” said Morrisons’ carrot buyer Andy Todd.

“At the same time, we want to highlight that wonky carrots are just as tasty as perfect-looking carrots and help support our farmers.”

Morrisons’ festive campaign has been heavily focused on its support of British farmers and suppliers. Its Christmas advert, which featured ‘Farmer Christmas’ as the main character, highlighted the year-long work of UK farmers working hard to deliver food across the country.

The retailer has also introduced an array of initiatives to help local suppliers recently, including an accelerator programme that helps smaller businesses make it onto its shelves.