Finlay's Spar has a way with waste

Martin and David Finlay of Finlay’s Spar in Belfast have come up with a novel way to reduce their store’s waste and help local wildlife. They regularly donate bread and out-of-date fresh produce to the elephants at Belfast Zoo.

“I wasn’t happy with sending out dated food to landfill sites and looked at a better way to recycle some of our stock,” said David, pictured with zookeeper Aisling McMahon. “Living near the zoo, I thought that our waste could be used to help feed some of the animals. We are fortunate as a lot of the zoo workers use our store and they were able to help point us in the right direction and organise the logistics of collecting the out dated stock.”

Alyn Cairns, a curator at Belfast Zoo, said: “We spend around £20,000 a year to feed our four ladies, so the help we get from local companies is always appreciated.”