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Online supermarket ocado.com partners with Twycross Zoo to help feed meerkats, monkeys and more
Animals enjoy 1,200kgs of free meat, fruit and vegetables every week

Everyone loves a free lunch and the animals of Twycross Zoo are no exception! The cute critters will now have their dinner delivered by online supermarket ocado.com.

Whilst the online supermarket ensures that 99.9% of food is not wasted through its pioneering high-tech systems, the 0.6% of food which has damaged packaging or is returned by customers but still tastes great will now be delivered directly from its Customer Fulfilment Centre in Dordon, Warwickshire, to the zookeepers at Twycross three times per week.

Twycross Zoo is home to around 150 species of animals, from the tiny emperor tamarin twins just born this September, to the enormous, endangered Asian elephants.

Anna Westbury, Team Leader at Twycross Zoo said, “Our animals need hundreds of tonnes of forage, fruit, vegetables and meat per year, and that comes with quite a price tag. The agreement we have with Ocado doesn’t just help keep the animals well fed, it means we can spend the money we save on priority conservation and education projects.”

Suzanne Westlake, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Ocado said, “Our special technology systems ensure that we produce less than 1% of food waste, but it’s fantastic to find a partner in Twycross Zoo to use what little we do create. I especially look forward to seeing the monkeys enjoy fruit that’s been returned from customers, but is still fresh and safe for animal consumption. We will continue to grow this, and other partnerships, in our efforts to avoid sending any food waste to landfill."

News of the partnership with Twycross Zoo comes as Ocado seeks to recruit 300 new Personal Shoppers who receive, pack and load customers' orders using the highly advanced technical systems at the Customer Fulfilment Centre in Dordon. It currently employs 900 staff, but Ocado is aiming to increase this to 1,500 by the end of 2014.

Julie Markey, HR Director at Ocado said, “Employees at Dordon enjoy competitive salaries, 15% staff discount, free shares and a pension scheme as well as other benefits like free entry for their family at Twycross Zoo. Head to www.ocado.com/careers to apply.”

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Animals at Twycross Zoo get dinner delivered by Ocado