A £1 million pound project launched in Swadlincote to help families cut food waste and save money has been scrapped.

Supermarket Sainsbury's launched its Waste Less Save More scheme in the town in 2015 in response to findings that large amounts of food bought by families was going to waste each week.

Swadlincote was picked as a national pilot town to trial the Waste Less Save project. It aimed to educate families to not waste food, including offering recipes to use up leftovers and handing out kitchen gadgets.

The town was given £1 million to enable it to test some of the most innovative ideas and technology available which was designed to cut waste and, in turn, saving families money.

Andrew Smyth, runner-up in the Great British Bake-off 2016, showing his support for Waste Less Save More

However, three years later the scheme has been shelved because Sainsbury's bosses said 'customers' priorities have changed' and Waste Less Save has come to its natural end.

The supermarket gave families in the town free gadgets such as devices to measure the correct amount of spaghetti to cook, 'smart' fridges to control content and temperatures more accurately, food planners and magnetic shopping lists.

The families then monitored the results after it was estimated that the scheme could help cut the average family household's annual food waste bill from £700 to just £350.

A Sainsbury's spokesman told the Burton Mail: "We launched Waste Less Save More three years ago. Since then, we've invested even more time and research into understanding what living well really means for our customers.

"We found our customers' priorities have changed and broadened, which is why reducing food waste now forms one part of an even bigger ambition to help our customers 'live well' in every aspect of their lives."

Swadlincote beat off competition from 188 other UK entries to be the test-bed for Waste Less Save More.

Councillor Bob Wheeler, who was leader of South Derbyshire District Council when the project was first launched, said: "It is disappointing that it was not seen as more successful but that's life."

The pilot Waste Less Save More scheme in Swadlincote was designed to help shape attitudes towards food waste within the community.

Over-arching results have found the trial has had a positive impact on behaviours in relation to household food waste, organisers said.

They say a third of Swadlincote's residents, 36.9 per cent, recording an increase in awareness of the amounts and types of food they throw away as a direct result of the campaign.

In a separate study focusing on Sainsbury's customers within the town, 64 per cent of respondents said they had already, or currently plan to change their behaviour in order to cut food waste, said a spokesman for the store.

The Sainsbury's Waste Less Save More scheme van

The project included awareness initiatives, as well as 20 trials, including introducing tools and technology to homes as more than 100 products were tested. There was also an interactive schools programme and food surplus sharing schemes.

As part of the scheme there was also a project called 'picnic rescue, which trialled designer packaging to stop picnic food from being damaged, which saw 98 per cent of participants achieve a 75 per cent reduction in food waste.

The Fab Foods project, which involved working with schools and experts to minimise food waste, enabled Eureka Primary School, in Midway, to chalk up a 37 per cent reduction over just two terms.

These successes saw the scheme scoop three Green Apple Awards at the Houses of Parliament as part of The Green Organisation's international campaign to find the greenest communities.

Eileen Oates, an in-store ambassador for the Waste Less Save More scheme

In addition, organisers said the number of Sainsbury's customers who believed Waste Less Save More would help save them money, or already had, rose from 35 per cent to 68 per cent over just six months.

They said that feedback had been "overwhelmingly positive" from everyone involved in the project.

Those involved added that although the Waste Less Save More project has come to "its natural end", Sainsbury's is continuing its support of the Fab Food, Community Fridge and Snapbox projects.