THE manager of a shop in Chirk has praised the early success of a new scheme which aims to reduce food waste at the store.

Matt Lee, manager of the SPAR in Church Street, has hailed the response of customers after it signed up to the ‘Too Good To Go’ app.

In a bid to reduce the amount of food thrown away, the scheme sells bags of groceries, which would otherwise be binned, for below its usual price.

For example, customers can purchase a bag full of goods for around £3, which would normally cost them around £10.

Matt says the number of customers purchasing the bags has been higher than he expected it would have been.

He said: “It’s been amazing – the take-up has been really good.

“I was initially unsure about how it would go, but the customers have really taken it on-board.

“It’s great because the customers are buying them for the right reasons too.

“They’re doing it for reasons including saving food waste, which is good.

“It is being carried out across the company and it has been received very well – I think there has been a take-up of around 90 to 95 per cent of bags which is amazing.

“The amount of food going in the bin here has gone down massively.”

The Too Good To Go app aims to reduce food waste, but also gives shoppers an opportunity to save money when buying essentials.

Matt said: “It also gives an opportunity for people who may need to save money where possible to pick up a bag of food at a lower price.

“It is the whole point of it – it’s for customers to save money and for us to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste.

“It has benefits for both of these things.

“All of the A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd-owned SPAR stores are doing this now, and there are a few more shops locally taking it up.”

The scheme was mentioned at Wednesday's meeting of Chirk Town Council, with members including Councillor Terry Evans praising the idea.

Several shops nearby are signed up to the scheme, including; Dobbies Garden Centre, Euro Garages SPAR in Oswestry and Euro Garages Greggs in Oswestry.

To find out more about Too Good To Go, and to find out where else is signed up near you, download the app or visit www.toogoodtogo.org/en