Waitrose has become the third major retailer to respond to a social media exposé of food waste in store bins.
The supermarket is the latest to be targeted by Food_waste_inspector, a vigilante account rifling store bins and posting the videos on TikTok and Instagram.
The account posted a video on Thursday of a wheelie bin containing numerous in-date tins of beans, said to have been at a Waitrose store. Several of the tins, including Waitrose own label cannelloni beans, appeared undamaged.
It came as M&S and Lidl both launched investigations into food waste filmed in bins at their stores.
It is understood Waitrose reached out to Food_waste_inspector to establish the location of the store, but he did not provide the information while his investigation of the branch was ongoing.
On being given the location by The Grocer, Waitrose said the store in question followed its policy of donating all edible surplus to food charity partners and any remainder to staff. It said it was hard to confirm the location from the video, and it would welcome additional information including the timing of the video in order to investigate further.
“The actions shown do not reflect the stringent procedures and commitment we have established to ensure edible surplus food reaches those who need it,” said a Waitrose spokesperson.
“Our latest figures show we helped distribute more than 8.3 million meals in 2024/25 through working with our charity partners FareShare and the Trussell Trust.”
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A new video posted at the weekend, said to have been shot at another Waitrose store on Saturday, showed a bin filled with Waitrose own label sliced meat including ham. “Everything is in date,” Food_waste_inspector says in the video.
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It follows videos last week documenting eight bins at an M&S store containing in-date food such as bakery items, and others showing Lidl store bins filled with in-date steaks and ambient food, and fruit that still looked good to eat.
Food_waste_inspector told The Grocer: “This is not a vendetta against any store, this is a problem with the waste. Once I know I’ve made a difference then I will remove all my videos showing the waste, but I have to see change before this happens.”
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