What's New
School Uniforms
Working with 'Their Future Today' we donated enough fabric for 1400 brand new uniforms for children in some of the poorest communities in Sri Lanka.
'Their Future Today' is working to improve the lives of children in some of the poorest communities in Sri Lanka. Education is one of their main areas of focus as in these communities it is often seen as a luxury and not a basic right. Families struggle to afford the school uniforms and stationary that their children need to go to school. Their is often a stigma attached to not wearing a uniform and so when asked children put uniforms at the top of their wish list.
Their Future Today approached us to ask if we could donate enough fabric for 900 school uniforms. We went a step further and supplied enough fabric for 1400. Parents prefer to have the fabric and not ready made uniforms so that they can adapt the uniform as their children get bigger.
We donated the type and amount of fabric that particular schools had asked for and the school distributed the fabric to those families who needed it most. By February 2013 over 1000 children had their brand new uniform.
Food collections
We’ve collected over 1,000 tonnes of food for those is need through our food collection partnerships in the UK, Poland, Hungary and the US.
In early December, we held our UK food collection campaign, ‘Help Feed People In Need’, with the Trussell Trust and Fareshare. Almost 900 stores took part in the collection and thousands of our colleagues volunteered their time to help. In total, we collected 1,000 tonnes of food, the equivalent to almost 2.4 million meals or 18,000 trolleys full of food.
We've also run collections in Hungary, the US and Poland. In Poland we’ve been supporting Food Banks for 12 years and this Christmas over 200 stores got involved.
Our new learning centre in Thailand
We have launched our first Tesco Learning Centre at our Pinklo Hypermarket in Bangkok.
The centre will offer courses to help people in the local community improve their life skills and will also provide self-learning facilities for students.
New suits made from recycled polyester
We’re saving carbon by using 100% recycled polyester for our colleagues’ new suits in store. Look out for the green labels.
Each year we use 225,000 jackets, trousers and skirts and we estimate that using recycled material will save 95,000Kg CO2 without impacting on the quality and fit of the garments.
But that’s not all, after 18 months wear we don’t throw them away, they are returned to the distributer who arranges for them to be used by charities, for example, they can be shredded and used in mattresses.
Help Feed People in Need
We’ve launched a nationwide food collection for Christmas.
Our nationwide food collection will take place in more than 800 of our stores on December 1st and 2nd and will help provide much needed food for hundreds of thousands of people this Christmas.
Apparel Skills Foundation
We've opened a Skills Foundation to support garment workers in Bangladesh.
The Skills Foundation’s objective is to equip the industry with training, expertise and tools to improve productivity while improving conditions, pay and opportunities for factory workers.
The Foundation will train and upskill factory owners on better worker management, ethical leadership and new production techniques to increase productivity.
Initiatives that have already been trialled in pilot programmes, which include reducing long working hours, giving workers productivity bonuses and implementing mentoring and buddy systems for new workers, have improved the working environment as well as making the factories more productive and sustainable.
£25million investment in British farming
We are creating two new groups, run by committees of farmers, which will guarantee beef farmers an above market price for their meat and a price linked to the cost of feed for pork farmers.
Farmers in the groups will have direct contracts that will last for up to 36 months, giving livestock farmers more security, the ability to plan ahead and a guaranteed fair price for their meat.
Micro-lending comes to Scotland
The Grameen micro-lending system, which has helped lift millions of people out of poverty worldwide, is to be launched in Scotland early next year with the aid of Tesco Bank and other major supporters.
Our Bank will provide half a million pounds of the loan capital for what will be Grameen’s first venture in the UK. We will also offer savings facilities and business support for aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to start businesses in some of Scotland’s most deprived communities.
Regeneration Partnership milestone
We’ve helped 5,000 long-term unemployed people get back to work.
On 4 October we opened our 45th Regeneration Partnership Store, Higham’s Park. Its opening means that we’ve now taken on and trained more than 5,000 long-term unemployed people through partnerships with local councils and Job Centre Plus.
Healthy Appetite wins award
Poland's best selling health magazine, Vita, has recognised us as the leading company promoting health for our in-store and online 'Healthy Appetite' programme.
Our team in Poland launched a new 'Healthy Appetite' programme in July of this year.
We're showing that healthy eating can be easy, tasty and affordable. On our new website customers can create their own nutritional plan, be inspired with new healthy recipes and get advice from nutritional experts. There is a smartphone app which provides tips and advice on the go. We also run local activities in-store including cookery demonstrations, tasting sessions and advice from nutrition experts.
Stand Up To Cancer
We're the proud lead sponsor of Stand Up To Cancer. We hope you enjoyed Friday's fantastic live show on Channel 4.
The total amount Stand Up To Cancer has raised so far is £6,483,995! Thank you to everyone who's got involved and donated. But remember, if you haven't already it's not too late...
Visit the Stand Up To Cancer website to find out more
