2020/2021 has been FareShare’s biggest year yet. We helped 10,542 charities and community groups and 1,108,064 people were provided food supplied by FareShare.
The food we redistributed contributed towards 131.9 million meals and saved the charity sector £18.5 million.
If food waste were a country it would be the third largest emitter of carbon globally, yet the issue has been largely ignored in climate discussions at COP, according to food charity FareShare.
In the UK, food waste accounts for between 6 and 7% of total greenhouse gas emissions, with an estimated 2m tonnes of perfectly edible food needlessly wasted on UK farms and in factories every year, instead of being sent to charities and community groups.
FareShare Footprint Methodology Report
Our socio-economic impact report, carried out by NEF Consulting, confirms that by collecting food that would otherwise go to waste and redistributing it to good causes, FareShare saves the UK economy approximately £51 million every year.
This means that by collecting food that would otherwise go to waste and redistributing it to charity and community groups, FareShare creates approximately £50.9 million of social-economic impact each year. This is made up of £6.9 million in social value to the beneficiaries themselves and £44 million in savings to the State (i.e. to the NHS, the criminal justice system, to schools and social care).
FareShare is making a huge contribution to the resources of the thousands of community organisations we supply food to and to the services they can provide to their beneficaries. The NatCen report ‘Saving Money, Improving Lives’ demonstrates that, by receiving food from FareShare, these frontline organisations are better equipped to provide the adequate support to get people back on their feet.
