The supermarket Iceland has announced that it is going to give away free food to online customers on the last day of its shelf life.

Iceland has set up its ‘Free on Last Day of Life’ initiative as a way of reducing waste.

The supermarket chain has said that it has the potential to give away more than 1.3 million items to its customers.

These food products would be equal to £500,000 a year and would make a considerable dent to the supermarket's food waste.

The initiative will be launched across all 1000 of the supermarket websites after a trial of 40 stores was consiered successful.

More than 17,000 items were given away for free during the trial and customers received an average refund of £1.58 per order.

Previously, all of Iceland's food products that were ordered and delivered by the supermarket had a shelf life of at least two days.

Customers do not need to go through any extra hassle at the checkout though. 

When you buy an item online - and it is the only one left- that is labelled with a same day date then it will be added to your cart as normal.

You will find out if your shopping has a free item included ahead of your delivery date and you won't be charged the original price.

The scheme also applies to all chilled, fresh, cakes, bread and morning goods.

Iceland Foods managing director, Richard Walker, said: “Reducing food waste is a huge priority for us as we continue to reduce our impact on the environment.

“We know that shelf life plays a big role in the creation of surplus food so we to have find an innovative way to combat this within our stores and via our online shopping.”

“Our Free on Last Day of Life scheme not only helps reduce food waste but also supports our customers.

“We know cost is key to many of our shoppers and this new initiative allows us to offer them the opportunity to reduce their weekly shopping bills as well as helping to reduce food waste.”