Food waste charity FareShare, which redistributes surplus food to charities in the UK, has said it has seen a 30% increase in donations over the past 12 months but is calling on industry to do more.
The charity, which works with all major UK retailers and redistributes food to nearly 1,300 charities, said it had received an additional 5,000 tonnes of food over the past year, largely as a result of recent “breakthrough partnerships” with Asda and Tesco. It also said it had extended its partnership with Sainsbury’s.
However, it estimated that just 1.5% of all waste is currently diverted to the charity.
FareShare also said it saw volumes of fresh produce surge tenfold over the period, thanks largely to retailers encouraging suppliers to come on board and donate to the charity.
“We estimate that there’s enough surplus food for another 800 million meals in the UK,” said CEO Lindsay Boswell. “We’re urgently calling on the industry to act and divert their surpluses to FareShare so we can feed more people.
“The charities we support are providing a lifeline to thousands of people every day. As more people turn to them for food, they’re turning to FareShare for help. We can’t do it without working in partnership with the food industry.”
FareShare director of food Mark Varney added that the “the co-ordination and leadership” of the mults had been critical to encouraging suppliers to come on board – an area where FareShare sees a “real opportunity” to drive donations.
The charity estimates there are up to 400,000 tonnes of untapped edible food surplus available across the industry.
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