27 September 2022
FareShare is calling on MPs to demand the government help deliver the equivalent of 1.3 billion meals, that may otherwise go to waste, to people worst hit by the cost of living crisis.
“At a time when millions more people across the UK are being forced into food poverty, FareShare does not have enough food to meet the skyrocketing demand caused by the cost of living crisis. This crisis is, for many, a bigger financial emergency than the Covid-19 pandemic. At a time of so much need, it is wrong that there is so much waste. We are urging the government to take action and help us get more good-to-eat surplus food to people who need it.”
Lindsay Boswell, FareShare UK CEO
WRITE TO YOUR MP TO HELP TACKLE THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS HERE
Currently more than 2 million tonnes of good-to-eat surplus food is wasted annually in the UK, the equivalent of 1.3billion meals.
Meanwhile, up to 10 million people, including 2.5m children, in the UK are in food insecurity, which means they are skipping meals and struggle to get enough to eat. The pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have dramatically increased the number of people in food insecurity.
FareShare, which gets good-to-eat surplus food to a network of nearly 9,500 charities, is asking for £25 million in funding to help meet increasing demand for its food. This could save the government an estimated £140 million and prevent the wasteful emissions of nearly 70,000 tonnes of C02e.
FareShare is the UK’s largest charity fighting food waste and hunger, and works across the food industry to help deliver good-to-eat, nutritious surplus food to charities across the UK. As well as food banks, these charities provide wraparound services for people who are often struggling with issues including unemployment and low income, debt, homelessness, family break up, and dependency.
Lindsay Boswell, CEO of FareShare said: “At a time when millions more people across the UK are being forced into food poverty, FareShare does not have enough food to meet the skyrocketing demand caused by the cost of living crisis. This crisis is, for many, a bigger financial emergency than the Covid-19 pandemic. At a time of so much need, it is wrong that there is so much waste. We are urging the government to take action and help us get more good-to-eat surplus food to people who need it.”
FareShare has previously taken part in a trial project run by DEFRA, which enabled farmers and producers to get their unsold food to charities, via FareShare’s innovative Surplus with Purpose scheme. Despite senior government figures repeatedly saying that they support FareShare at the dispatch box over the last year, the funding has not yet materialised.
Notes to editors
For image and interview requests please contact kitty.langton@fareshare.org.uk
About FareShare:
FareShare is the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste. We take good-to-eat surplus food from across the food industry, sort it in our regional warehouses across the UK, and pass it onto a network of nearly 9,500 charities and community groups. These include food banks and pantries, hostels, refuges, community centres, older people’s lunch clubs, school clubs and hospices. Three quarters of the organisations we provide food to, support children and families. During the last financial year, 2021-22, FareShare redistributed the equivalent of nearly 130 million meals - that’s 4 meals every second.
Government Funding:
FareShare received a government grant of £1.9m in 2019, as part of a government trial to tackle food waste. The scheme helps to cover the extra costs to small-scale farmers, growers and producers of redistributing their good-to-eat waste food, rather than let it go to waste. The trial resulted in 85% more fruit and vegetables reaching frontline charities and community groups. But government funding ended in 2020, and despite widespread calls, is not currently funding food redistribution in the UK. FareShare is asking for a new grant of £25m, which would allow it to redistribute an additional 100 millions meals to vulnerable families – nutritious food that otherwise goes to waste.
