1 in 8 people* go hungry in the UK, yet perfectly good food is wasted every day in food production.
Help us tell the Government to get food to those in need.
There is currently no economic incentive for businesses such as manufacturers, processors and packers to redistribute their food to charities such as FareShare, while there is an economic incentive to send it to anaerobic digestion or animal feed. It can be more expensive to redistribute good quality surplus food to the charities which support the 8.4 million people in the UK who go hungry* than it is to send it to other processes of disposal.
FareShare wants the Government to #feedpeoplefirst and to provide a level playing field so that delivering good surplus food to charities like FareShare costs food companies the same as sending it to anaerobic digestion or animal feed.
The food FareShare provides to charities is surplus from the food industry. Food can become surplus – which means that it is not going to be sold – for simple reasons such as overproduction, packaging malfunctions, labelling errors, oversupply due to favourable growing conditions, unexpected changes in demand or short shelf life. The surplus food we source and redistribute is good quality and in date, and instead of going to waste, it is turned into nutritious meals by charities who support vulnerable people.
Thank you for your support – we got an incredible 16,297 signatures which guarantee a response from the Government.
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We are calling on the Government to set up a £15m fund to offset the costs of charitable food redistribution. This would enable food businesses to send their surplus food to charity by removing the costs of re-packing, harvesting, transporting and handling which are current barriers. By accessing redistributed surplus food, UK charities could save £150m, helping them to increase their services and feed even more people in need.
Thank you for your support – we got an incredible 16,297 signatures which guarantee a response from the Government.
Many food businesses are leading the way and redistributing their store level surplus to charities who support vulnerable people, but the majority of good quality, in date surplus food is lost further up the supply chain.
Food manufacturers tell FareShare it can cost up to £150 per tonne to separate, store and transport edible surplus food to charity, which is why the food is instead sold to anaerobic digestion plants where it is turned into fuel. Where food is at the end of its life and is not fit for human consumption, this is a very good thing. Where food is good to eat, it should go to feed the 8.4 million people in the UK who go hungry*.
FareShare is an award-winning UK-wide charity fighting hunger and food waste. Since 1994, we have been working with the food industry, charities and environmental groups to ensure good food is not wasted. We redistribute enough food to support 500,000 people every week by accessing just over 5% of good quality surplus food generated by the food industry.
Our research shows one in five of the charities we support would have to close if FareShare stopped providing them with food, and that it saves them an average of £7,900 a year.
Will you join us in addressing this imbalance, so food businesses can redistribute their good, in date surplus to people in need, rather than sending it to waste? Sign the petition to #feedpeoplefirst.
