COMMUNITY groups in Chippenham are being encouraged to nominate the town for a £1million investment to reduce food waste.

Nominating Chippenham in the Sainsbury’s Waste Less, Save More town challenge, could see the town become a test bed for cutting down food waste.

Residents or community groups can nominate Chippenham as its population is between 15,000 and 300,000 and has a Sainsbury’s store within a five mile radius.

Nominees must also demonstrate a strong sense of community and be keen and willing to work together to tackle food waste.

The Sainsbury’s scheme has been launched in response to the escalating issue of household waste which results in the average family throwing away £700 worth of uneaten food a year.

Paul Gunter, store manager at Sainsbury’s Chippenham, said: “We know that waste, and particularly food waste, is a big challenge for households and it’s something our customers really care about.

“It would be really great if Chippenham could benefit from this new initiative. We’re here to help anyone that wants to find out more about applying.”

From the start of 2016, Sainsbury’s will partner the selected town, investing £1 million to trial ideas from around the world to discover the best ways to reduce food waste and save people money.

The final ideas will be chosen specifically for the winning town, but could include fridge innovations for the home to track when food is beginning to go off, talking bins that give tips as rubbish is put in them or reward programmes to encourage recycling.

Additionally, Sainsbury’s will work closely with the local authority and key community groups within the successful town to crowd-source new suggestions on how food waste could be reduced.

Findings and recommendations from the trial phase in year one will be developed into a blueprint and made public in year two so that communities across the country can benefit.

The closing date for applications is 11:59pm on October 30 and the winner will be notified by December 1.

For more on the Waste Less, Save More project visit www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/wasteless