Waste sugar routinely thrown away by supermarkets is being collected to help feed stricken bees in Britain struggling to get enough nectar to feed themselves.

In the first UK trial of its kind, discarded sugar from split bags rated no longer fit for human consumption, along with surpluses from in-store bakeries, is being shipped from Tesco stores in Cornwall and Devon to a beekeepers’ group.



During the autumn and winter months commercial beekeepers typically buy or make their own sugar feed, dissolving sugar in water to create a thick syrup or fondant. The solution is given to bees as a substitute for nectar and honey.

The waste sugar discarded by Tesco stores in the west country will be used to help feed bees bred and reared by the Bee Improvement Programme for Cornwall (BIPCo). The ideal sugar is basic white granulated; any containing artificial sweetener can be harmful to bees and brown sugar gives the insects dysentery.

Since 2007 the UK’s overall bee population has dwindled by a third due to pests, diseases and fewer wild flowers, all of which makes it harder for bees to produce enough honey to feed themselves throughout the winter.

Commercial beekeepers support colonies with sugar solutions during autumn and winter months. Photograph: F1 Online/Rex Features

“Bees are not only central to the process of pollinating crops which later become our food but are an iconic part of the great British countryside” said Lucy Hughes, Tesco’s community manager at its store in Callington, Cornwall. “I hope this project will go some way to support our local bees and help them through the winter months.”

Hughes came up with the scheme after a conversation with local beekeepers, who were enthused about the idea.

Nick Bentham-Green, chairman of BIPCo, said: “Recent poor summers have contributed to bees struggling to get enough stores into the hives to feed their colony throughout the winter. This new scheme is a great help, especially at this time of year, and is helping towards the conservation of the native British honey bee.”

David Ledger, a commercial beekeeper who keeps more than 100 colonies of honey bees at Harrowbarrow, in the Tamar Valley, for his business, Kings Orchard Country Produce, said: “It makes sense to use waste sugar that would otherwise be burnt or thrown away and I hope this trial could be extended nationally to support bee conservation work throughout the UK.”

Simon Cavill, a trustee of the British Beekeepers’ Association and founder of the Bee Good skincare range, said he hoped the supermarket Waitrose and other chains would back the scheme by providing free waste sugar.

Amid growing attention to the scale of the UK’s food waste, supermarkets are under pressure to reduce it throughout their supply chains. Asda and the sugar brand Silver Spoon have reviewed sugar waste to see where most of it occurs, and have since improved and strengthened packaging to avoid bags breaking.



Tesco in Cornwall and Devon is also running a Bags of Help initiative, which donates money, raised from carrier bag sales, to local community projects, such as bee keeping, across the UK. The B4 Project (Bringing Back Black Bees), a sister group to BIPCo, won £10,000 worth of funding through the scheme and will be using it to construct a haven for native black honey bees at Mount Edgcumbe, a country park at Torpoint, south-east Cornwall.