UK Supermarket Waitrose has teamed up with food redistribution organisation Fareshare, to develop a new scheme which will redirect surplus farm food to families in need. Throughout lockdown this has helped many vulnerable families who have struggled through financially challenging times, providing important nutrition for those who would otherwise go hungry.
Environment Secretary, George Eustice, said: “Food waste is one of the most significant environmental challenges that we face. I commend Waitrose, their suppliers and farmers who are working to help divert food to FareShare."
Since the 1st of March Fareshare and Waitrose have provided over five million surplus apples, cooked carrots, mushrooms and sweet baby sprouts in hope to create more than one million meals for vulnerable families across the UK. In addition Waitrose has provided over one million British eggs and around 22 tonnes of British Beef, in order to combat low levels of protein surplus. Both these commodities were donated by Stonegate and Dovecote Park.
On top of this scheme, the supermarket chain has been working in partnership with the charity in other ways since 2017, by taking leftover food from their shops and letting other charities to collect it using their app. For Waitrose, all of these combined efforts help build towards their commitment to halve their food waste by 2030.